BollYwO0d GaRallY By (F@h@D)

Videsh

2009-04-09T13:32:00.001-07:00

“Do our desires have such power that they can enter our lives in human form,” wonders the battered protagonist of Videsh at the movie’s end.

Reminds me of Hermann Hesse, the Nobel-winning author who, in a prologue to one of his books, muses about the challenge of writing about non-existent things: “The fact that serious and conscientious men treat them as existing things brings them a step closer to existence…” Something like this happens to Chand ( Preity Zinta ) in Deepa Mehta’s film Videsh

Akshay-Priyanka may pair again!

2009-04-09T13:29:00.001-07:00

Akshay Kumar is set to play another romantic-comic role in director Priyadarshan’s next film.

Priyadarshan seems to have an endless stock of entertainment inside him. One after the other he keeps making movies that blend comedy with romance and suspense. And the director has become fond of actor Akshay Kumar too.

8x10 Tasveer

2009-04-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Akshay plays Jai Puri, a thirty-plus man who has a unique supernatural gift to see into the past of dead people by touching an object belonging to them or by seeing their photos.

His family, friends and even he at times is skeptical of this power. But Jai manages to eke out a living in this land so steeped in belief of the supernatural.

Ayesha Takia plays Jai’s wife and also the breadwinner of the family. She grudgingly believes in her husband’s powers.

Jai is not on talking terms with his father Jatin Puri (Benjamin Gilani), who is an oil baron, living a lavish life of luxury and fame. Jai never wished to follow his father’s profession but nonetheless loved him deep within.

Sharmila Tagore plays Jai’s mother Savitri, a woman torn between her husband and son. She sincerely wishes her son to return to the family fold.

A personal tragedy provokes Jai to use his supernatural powers to unravel a mystery that seems impenetrable to an ordinary mind. But Jai’s mind is not ordinary.

The film has Akshay Kumar doing some death-defying stunts. In one scene he jumps off the edge of a high cliff and lands into water. The stunt was shot with the help of safety cables.

In another stunt, Akshay, tied with chains, sinks underwater where he can’t use his arms to swim back to the surface. It’s almost a Houdini kind of stunt where Akshay unshackles himself.

Director Nagesh Kukunoor describes ‘8x10 Tasveer’ as an action thriller. Apparently, Akshay and Nagesh had their differences in the initial days of shooting but soon they got used to each other’s style of working.

‘8x10 Tasveer’ is written by Kukunoor and has music by Salim-Suleiman and Bohemia.

The film is produced by Percept Picture Company.

‘8x10 Tasveer’ is set for release on April 3, 2009.

Jani Dushman

2009-04-06T12:37:00.001-07:00

It is difficult to do justice to horror films in Bollywood with the lack of documentation and material available on the subject. Therefore, this article has been written almost entirely on the basis of memory. As a result there will be certain oversights but the idea is to pay some kind of homage to a genre that has managed to maintain its niche in India's massive film industry.

The earliest 'horror' films in Indian cinema revolved around themes of reincarnation and rebirth. Basically they were the typical old-fashioned ghost story. The attempt was not to scare as much as to give the love story a new dimension. The most famous is probably Kamaal (Pakeezah) Amrohi's debut film, Mahal. Starring Madhubala and Ashok Kumar the film is a complicated ghost story, which sees Ashok Kumar moving into an abandoned mansion with a tragic history. It is also immortalised by Madhubala's beauty and Lata Mangeshkar's first major hit song 'Ayega Aanewala'. Atmospherically photographed in the German expressionist style appropriately by the German cameraman Joseph Wirsching the film is heralded as an all time classic.

Barah Aana (2009) (story)

2009-04-02T02:24:00.000-07:00

After Bas Yun Hi, Barah Aana is Raja Menon’s second movie. It is one of those movies with a lot of potential that has not been exploited fully. The story’s a good one, so is the cast but the narration is unimpressive, until the second half when it actually takes off.

The opening scene has Shukla (Naseeruddin Shah) running through some woods huffing and puffing, with three thugs chasing him and we find out he’s actually dead, atleast on paper. Then the story begins.

Shukla (Naseeruddin Shah), a chauffeur; Aman (Arjun Mathur), a waiter and Yadav (Vijay Raaz), a watchman are all roommates in Dharavi. Shukla and Yadav are abused by their employers while Aman is in love with a drug peddler Kate (Violante Palcido) and fends off advances by Rani (Tanishta Chatterjee). So what separates them from getting respect? Money. So they extort money for a kidnapping they never planned and this leads to more kidnappings and more money. And like all good plans it goes all wrong. So, how is it fixed? Money.

Naseeruddin Shah is the stoic types who never says a word, but still manages to say it all, as he puts up with all the insults by his employer and finally loses it. Vijay Raaz is fabulous. His transition from a watchman to a kidnapper with money to burn is natural and convincing. Arjun Mathur is so-so.

Aloo Chaat (story)

2009-04-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

This movie really inspired me alot,d story is very real,its what happen in life 2day.i'll just give a brief hint.the story was focus on 3 person.(1)a dieing man who fell in luv.(2)a lady who is tired of life.(3)a man who is lookin for a perfect lady to date. The most fascinating thing is that,he traveled all the way from indian to london for proper medication not knowing that along the line he will fall in love.this story really makes me realize that what so ever thing Udo just live life it to the fullest cos 2morrow might be too late and know matter how strong ur heart is it will surely fall in luv.Its a most wash movie.

Ek The Power Of One (2009) (Story)

2009-04-02T02:19:00.001-07:00

Nandu did not know what his fathers name was and his mother had died when he was born. He survived nevertheless and by the time he was 9 years old the corrupt world had filled in him, hatred so strong that he lost all feelings of compassion and humanity. With no other ambitions and goal and armed with only a will to survive and give back to the world what it had given him, Nandu took to the world of crime. He killed…his first victim was when he was just 9 years old….The opposition leader Bhushan Purohit hires Nandu for a unique job. He wants Nandu to make an assassination attempt on him while he would be addressing a rally to kick start his election campaign. Bhushan is sure that the attempt would create a sympathy wave so strong that he would tide over the elections to an overwhelming victory. The day of the rally arrives and everything is going according to the plan. Nandu locks his target but before he could fire a bullet rips through the forehead of Bhushan Purohit. Nandu is shocked. To his horror he sees Rocky's car being blown away by a truck which smashes into his car. Police surround the area and almost zeroes in on Nandu who in a daredevil fashion makes his escape into a running train. It is here that Nandu meets Shekhar. Shekhar is very excited as he is returning to his house after 14 years. He had run away as a child due to an incident and it was off late that he pined to go back home when he realized that his grandfather was still waiting for him to come back. He shows him the watch that belonged to his grandfather and which he had taken with him. He tells him about his cousin who was getting married and it would be a family reunion on this happy occasion. The train stops at a station. Nandu is shocked to see that the police have followed the train. They had seen him from the back and the officer looks at him and trains his gun towards him. As he takes the shot Shekhar comes in the way accidentally and is hit…Shekhar dies on the spot…as he falls down his eyes imploringly stare at Nandu…the watch in his hands falls down…the police converge into the apartment and find Nandu missing…The beautiful quaint house set in the midst of greenery is full of celebrations…the occasion is Baisakhi but more than that it is the expected return of Shekhar that has the members of the house in this state of happiness. Shekhar's grandfather, his three bua's, their husbands, the kids of the house, his cousin who is going to get married and Preet all are waiting to see him. Preet is the daughter of Shekhar's grandfather's best friend Arvind who had died in an accident years back and she has grown up in this house. She is full of life and colors, beautiful, buxom, innocent, energetic, and carefree. She also believes that she is the most beautiful girl one could come across.Nandu arrives and the kids assume that he is Shekhar. Emotions take over everyone as they welcome him. Preet is enamored by him from the word go and stares at him as if she is seeing a Greek god. It is an emotional high as Nandu meets Shekhar's grandfather. When he returns his watch to him tears well up in his eyes and he says that time had stopped when Shekhar had run away and now it had began back for him. At this point Nandu realizes that all is not as well as it seemed in the house…there was a lot of hidden pain in what the grandfather had said. His decision to stay here and find out more is cemented. The various family members are introduced and each of them is one of a kind. He strongly connects with the grandfather and the eldest bua whose daughter is going to get married and for the first time starts realizing what family and love of a family is all about. Preet starts wooing him and in his presence feels very conscious and wants him to notice her beauty. Among all this fun and happiness Nandu finds out the problems that the family are faced with and in his own way helps them come out of it. Soon he starts changing his opinion and softening and reacting to emotions…something which he had never felt before. He also starts falling for Preet. The case of Bhushan Purohit's assassination was hotting up and special officer from the CBI, Nandkumar Rane…popularly known as Inspector Rane, is given the responsibility of tracking down the killer. Ins. Rane has his own unique way of functioning and is a huge threat to Nandu. Soon enough Ins. Rane's investigation leads him to Shekhar's village where he meets Nandu. Will Nandu be able to come out of the crisis a winner? Will the family come to know about his truth? What would be the fate of Nandu and Preet's love story? Who was the real killer of Bhushan Purohit? "Ek – The Power of One" is a journey that Nandu undertakes and learns the true meaning of life in an entertaining narrative encompassing various emotions that comprise life.

Tera Mera Ki Rishta (2009) (Story)

2009-04-02T02:17:00.000-07:00

MEET, a Punjabi boy who lives at Vancouver is a total fun loving chap. Adventure is his secondname. High speed bikes, racing cars, ice hockey and what not, you name any adventure andMEET is there to rock. He is an adventurous brat of a highly sophisticated Canadian family.Now lets see our girl Rajjo... A girl from Punjab… a girl of principles. Family values & cultural priorities are very close to her heart. Come what may, she will never act in a way that will embarrass her family. What happens when MEET and Rajjo, from entirely different worlds come together….!!Sophistication of Canada openly welcomes the openness of Punjab but in a mischevious way.. MEET, who never thinks twice before saying 'I LOVE YOU' to a girl. Now meets Rajjo, forwhom saying "I LOVE YOU" will be the biggest moment of her life.As everything was going in a merry way, tale takes a sudden turn. Before they could realize, fate has parted their ways… But destiny has something else to offer…..Meet is not ready to surrender in front of the fate…he will not let his love slip away in frontof his eyes... And in this topsy turvy tale of love, family & relationships, they just cant help asking each other... TERA MERA KI RISHTA...

Bollywood Raj- The History Of Bollywood

2009-03-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Bollywood seems to be one of the reasons why India is so prominent on the global map.

True, there are other reasons for it but none of them are as glamorous as the world of Lights, Camera, Action! Bollywood has nowadays become synonymous with instant celebrityhood.

Bollywood has witnessed a lot of progress from its nascent years. It has been continuously evolving, at times for the better and at times just to deteriorate. Such is the power of Bollywood that it can make or break a man in a matter of days. Bollywood fascinates one and all; it has captivated the hearts of millions of viewers in India and abroad.

Talk of Bollywood and you get to hear of nepotism, the ill famed casting couch, fickle arrogant actors and et cetera. But all this still fails to take away the sheen from the lustrous Bollywood.

Bollywood had humble beginnings. Raja Hrishchandra was the first silent feature film made way back in 1913. Ardeshir Irani’s Alam Ara (1931) was the first sound film. This was just the beginning of what would later become revered as Bollywood. It has seen a monstrous growth ever since.

Almost every child has nurtured dreams of becoming a Shah Rukh Khan or an Aishwarya Rai. Hundreds make their annual pilgrimage to Bollywood with dreams of achieving stardom. Hundreds come and hundreds go, and a select few stay. The great Indian Bollywood saga is more enchanting than a fairy tale, spicier than Indian food.

Think Bollywood and what first comes to mind is the good Samaritan hero, the poor damsel in distress, unending song and dance routines, slapstick comedies, the bad villain who will be slaughtered by the good hero, the mad in love couple and there stern unreasonable parents and the rich boy poor girl in love story.

But like everything else in the cosmos, Bollywood too refuses to be categorized into a tight genre and often, a brave man willing to take a few risks ventures out into unsheltered territory to make a masterpiece. In the recent past, we have seen incredible movies like Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par, Chak De! India, Rang De Basanti which went on a path less travelled.

Bollywood’s evolution with time can provide enough fodder for a million books to be written, odes to be sung or dung bombs to be hurled.

Till 1960, most of the Bollywood movies were black and white.

Melodramas and over the top musicals were the order of the day. In 1930s, movies like Toofan Mail, Devdas, Pukar set the bandwagon rolling.

1940s saw movies like Shaheed, Barsaat, Mahal, Andaaz etc shine at the box office. At that time, stars like Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, and Madhubala ruled the roost. In the beginning, women from “good families” did not dare venture into the labyrinths of Bollywood. Actresses were generally those women who were going through hard times and had to support their families.

Come1950s and movies like Mother India, Aan, Chalti ka Naam Gaadi, Baazi, Awara, Sujata, Do Aankhen Barah Haath, Kagaz Ke Phool, Chori Chori, and Shree 420 saw the light of the day. All these movies were dramas which threw light on the vulnerability of humans and the trials, tribulations and subsequent rise of the underdog. Nargis and Raj Kapoor and their alleged affair provided a lot of fuel to the gossip mongers and their firehouse chemistry also set the screens on fire.

1960s ushered in movies like Mughal-E-Azam,Guide, Aradhana, Sahib Bibi aur Gulaam, An evening in Paris etc. Mughal-e-Azam broke box office records for the highest grossing film till 1975. It played upon the conscience of the Indian cinema lover. The love story of the demure Aanarkali and Jahangir and fate’s cruelty to them had everyone mesmerized. In fact, even today, we can sometimes hear people sing “Jab Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya”.The song almost became an alternative anthem for Indians.

Arundathi - Movie Review

2009-03-15T12:11:00.001-07:00

Forum was no longer a happy place after Kslp left to USA. An year long separation was becoming very difficult for either parties. So much was it's agony that it burnt itself throwing the movie lovers out of the PVR half way into the their movie. With the events taking a serious turn, he had to come back to Bangalore and here he was this Monday. So, he had to call upon the PVR and that couldn't wait till the weekend. As PVR extended the invitation with 'Arundathi' on the cards, he was unstoppable and so was me with it's mention. Yesterday night, we did reach there well before 10 P.M and rushed off to the ticket counter.

With Kslp not wanting to miss even the trailers and the ads that run before the movie, we walked in soon. After the first ad, I got a blank face when I asked him what it was. Actually, I can't deny the anticipation that exists for the movie trailers that are played before the movie. Probably because they challenge our imagination to build the movie from a 2 minute teaser.

And so the movie started to a crowd that wanted to save some bucks by watching it on a weekday. Soon as the movie opened with Sathi pandu (Satyanarayana) walking into his house, I was anticipating his death. That's of course what happens when you walk into the theater knowing it's gonna be a horror movie. When Sathi stayed alive even after 5 minutes into the movie, it wasn't horror anymore. The introduction of Arundathi is awesome. Alas, the three second introduction is followed by a five minute stupid song. Even before i get back to senses, there's another tiny song that has nothing but the word 'Jejamma'(Yes, just keep reciting it in rythm). Anushka didn't completely justify her character. Especially the song where she had to dance to the sound of drums. Sonu Sood is at his best in is role if not for too loud voice lent for him. The music in the movie doesn't accentuate the horror levels at all. It probably pacified the scenes that are horrifying in visuals. Sayaji Shinde is ok in his role. The movie is good if you don't walk in with too much of expectations. But if you do, reading all the reviews that crowned it, you might come a bit disappointed.

Apart from that, watching it on a week day did no good for us. Having given 500 bucks for couple of tickets at the counter, we forgot to take back the change. That's spending 250 bucks for each ticket that costs 120 bucks. I only realized it this morning when i was looking for the change. At least, i could manage to pay for the coconut. And on the way back home we had to brave the cold without the gear.

Koncham Istam Koncham Kastam - Movie Review

2009-03-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Here I sit down to write the review of this movie with Pradeep and Subba sitting on either sides, the one with whom I have watched the movie today afternoon at Fame Cinemas in Lido Mall.

The movie opens with Subramanyam(Nazar) trying to convince Geetha(Tammanna) for her higher studies in Hyderabad. Actually that’s where we walked into the theater after a slight delay in the food court. So there goes the heroine to Hyd staying with Gachi Bowli Diwakar(Brahmam) and studying in a college where Rajya Lakshmi(Ramya Krishna) is a professor. Ramya’s son Siddu(Siddharth) is a flirt like any other hero in half of the love stories. After initial aversion towards siddu, Geetha falls for him in no time.

It ain't easy to recollect the story of the first half. Probably because there isn’t much going on with respect to it. However, the whole half moves on so pleasantly with abundant humour sprinkled into it. At least for the first half, I have to deny that this is a serious one. Most of the scenes that involve Brahmam, Venu Madhav and Siddharth leaves the audience in splits. There are plenty of times that I laughed out loud to the frustration of friends sitting besides me.

The second half of the movie moves fine for a while but gets to test the patience as the movie progresses. It appeared to be dragged towards the end and the scenes that unite Siddu’s parents look far from convincing.

Over all there are many lovely scenes that are humorous. The cinematography deserves a pat. The whole movie is very colorful and a treat to the eyes. Prakash Raj as Siddu’s father is apt for the role while Ramya’s role as Siddu's mother wasn’t etched right. Siddharth and Tamanna excel in their roles. If not for the end that dragged, this would have been an awesome one.

Not easy to write when the one on the right(Pradeep) keeps criticizing every word and line that I write.

Dev D

2009-03-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

It was the Wednesday night. It was 9:10 P.M. We were in our home and there was just another 50 minutes for the movie to begin in PVR. We didn't have the tickets. Booking tickets before hand was deemed unnecessary for a weekday by Kslp. As we geared up to have our dinner, he reminded me of how the movie would rock after a couple of drinks and so in the next 10 minutes, i gulped down a couple along with some roti and rice before we rushed off to PVR. Soon as we entered into the parking lot, Uttam and Venky went ahead to the theaters to book tickets. As we took the parking ticket and started looking for space, the message reached us. There were no tickets for the show. That's when the burn in the gut started to surface.. Well, with nothing to do, we returned back after paying for the parking without even parking :) The next day, tickets were booked online in advance and we reached INOX, Jayanagar in time for the 10 P.M show.

The story is no different from the original Devdas except for a sweet surprise that you would love to watch on screen. The movie mostly revolves around Dev (Abay Deol) running after his Paro(Mahi Gill) till the little misunderstandings and his ego leave him high(actually low) on drinks and drugs in the streets of Delhi. From the other way comes Chanda played beautifully by Kalki Koechlin, caught in a MMS sex scandal leaving her parents distraught and ending up in the same streets of Delhi as a sex worker when left with no other path to take.

I have nothing but praises for the movie. It isn't just one or two departments that excelled. Everything in the movie is a work of perfection. The first thing that i liked about the movie is the music. The music is awesome and the songs don't abruptly give a break to the narration. Running in the background, they elevate the narration. Next come the visuals. They are just amazing and am sure that everyone would love it. Even with such brilliant visuals through out the whole movie, there are certain scenes that stand out amidst all. All the characters are perfect and Abay stands out. I can't think of any one who could carry the role the same way he did. There can be a time where you could feel that the second half is losing it's pace, but it would bounce back in no time.

Unless you are taken aback by the explicit sexual content in it, it's just impossible to stop falling in love with the movie. To me, the movie just tells one thing. Love can happen to anyone at any time and any times. :)

13b

2009-03-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Vikram K Kumar's 13B did what a horror movie needs to do – gave goosebumps at every turn in the first half. It is shot in monochrome and the background score puts a chill into the mundane.

But as it moves into flashback mode and an agitated Madhavan tries to save his family, there are too many twists and the story starts losing credibility. The story is all over the place and the eerie quality created right at the start is soon forgotten.

An abnormally happy joint family (do they even exist these days?), move into a posh apartment numbered 13B. The milk curdles daily; Manu’s (Madhavan) pics taken on his camphone inside the apartment are always distorted; they can’t drive a nail in the puja room; the elevator never works only for Manu forcing him to take the stairs (terrifying indeed!!!); the neighbour’s dog refuses to enter their apartment and the television automatically switches to channel 13 at 13:00 hours to a program that is exclusively aired for their family.

Though the women in the house are ga-ga over the show Sab Khairiyat Hai, it is only Manu who realizes that their life is dictated by that show. He drags into this supernatural mess, his police officer friend Shiva and starts putting together the pieces. A gory massacre of a family; a murderer still out free while the family’s mentally ill brother (Deepak Dobriyal) is accused of the crime; a spurned lover and the television’s part in the crime is what they uncover.

The blindman and the rest of the cast’s roles were trivial while Madhavan was the only one with something to do in the movie.

Give it a miss. Doesn’t captivate.

Kisse Pyaar Karoon

2009-03-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

Banner	K Sera Sera
Genre	Comedy
Year	2009
Cast	Arshad Warsi, Ashish Choudhary, Yash Tonk, Aarti Chabbria, Shweta Menon and Udita Goswami
Director	Ajay Chandok
Music Director	Dabboo Malik

Sitting through this inane film is an absolute torture and one should consider himself lucky he comes out of the hall without a headache.

The film throws together an apology of a plot, hamming actors, plenty of double innuendo dialogues, badly picturised songs and a director who doesn’t know his job. If this all has not put off you already about the film then read ahead what this mega torture is all about.

Thick friends Arshad Warsi, Yash Tonk and Ashish Choudhary are good for nothing overgrown college kids (???) who have their own unique (?) characteristics!

While Arshad finds tremendous glee in pornography, Yash Tonk is completely his opposite as he simply hates girls. Ashish is madly in love with Aarti Chabbria but she doesn’t care a hoot about him. To make him smile, Arshad and Yash hook him up with Udita Goswami. But Udita is instrumental in distancing him away from his best friends.

She feels Arshad and Yash spell no class and Ashish is better off from them. To turn things around for the better for themselves, they bring in a prostitute Chameli aka Julie (Shweta Menon). Udita’s underworld don brother, Shakti Kapoor too joins in to spoil the fun. What chaos it all leads to forms the rest of the film.

Few minutes into the film and you will realize the makers clearly have aimed it for the masses who frequent single screens in the B and C centers. The crass language used by the characters and the pathetic screenplay is enough for anyone to lose his cool and demand his money back for unleashing insufferable pain in the name of entertainment.

The basic plot is lifted from Hollywood comedy Saving Silverman which in turn was also the main theme of 2008’s flop comedy De Taali starring Ritesh Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani and Ayesha Takia. But here instead of capitalising on a fairly okay plot the makers have messed it for the worse. The laughs fall flat and songs attempt to put you off to sleep. But wait! the background music is loud enough to keep you off from even dozing off! Ajay Chandok who gave us yet another pathetic comedy before, Nehle Pe Dehla still hasn’t learnt his ropes about direction it seems. Anything happens anytime with lack of direction visible clearly!

Karma Aur Holi

2009-03-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

Banner	Saregama
Genre	Drama
Year	2009
Cast	Sushmita Sen, Randeep Hooda, Drena DeNiro, Naomi Campbell, Suresh Oberoi, Rati Agnihotri, Suchitra Krishnamoorthy and Deepal Shaw
Director	Manish Gupta
Music Director	Raju Singh and Vishal Bhardwaj

produced by legendary Hollywood actor Robert De Niro’s daughter Drena De Niro, Karma Aur Holi (earlier titled Karma Confessions and Holi) is not your typical NRI flick that tries to force the message down your throat about how better India is than the USA or how one is struggling to find his own identity in the land of Uncle Sam, but then it is again not a very engaging film that can be you focused for its two hour running time.

Meera (Sushmita) is a financial consultant cum yoga teacher and her hubby Dev (Hooda) runs publishing house. They have a great huge house and everything seems to be going picture perfect or is it really?

They plan to throw a Holi bash for their friends and relatives at their new mansion and all the guests assemble the evening before the Holi party. Amongst them are Meera’s ever worrying sister Vani (Rati) and her mature hubby Shekhar (Oberoi) and their 17 year old son Vikram (Chandan), there is a male chauvinist Dr Nimish with his docile wife Sujata (Suchitra) and her sister Preeti (Deepal), there is Meera’s wannabe filmmaker friend Javed (Armin Amiri) and his girlfriend Jennifer (Naomi), Dev’s associate Geentanjali (Maya) and Meera’s tarot reader friend Megan (Drena).

As the evening begins to unfold, skeletons start tumbling out of each of these characters’ bags and leads to complicated situations. How those close to them and around them get affected by these and what solutions come out of them when the Holi day arrives forms the rest of the film.

The concept of the film is nice but it hasn’t really been developed much. Lack of creative writing is seen at every step. The film tends to get too much talkative with nothing much happening beyond the four walls of the mansion. Then again, most of the problems or dilemmas faced by the characters are plain clichéd like for example the MCP Dr Nimish and his docile wife track. You very well guess it that towards the end she is going to walk out on him in the end.

But what keeps you some what attentive is the acting. Sushmita Sen rocks with her no pretentious NRI accent act. She is perhaps the most loveable thing in the film. Also, her topless act in the shower followed by her smoochathon with Randeep gets many wolf whistles in the auditorium.

Shilpa’s pre-Holi bash for Rajasthan Royals

2009-03-06T03:06:00.000-08:00

Shilpa Shetty who is currently in Jaipur to shoot a special music album for her team Rajasthan Royals will be back in Mumbai on March 10th to celebrate the festival of colours with her team.

Shilpa confirms, “Yes I will be back on March 10 to celebrate the big festival. It will be a pre-Holi celebration but without colors.” The celebrations will take place at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai and there will be everything including music, food and the complete Holi delicacies, informs Shilpa.

Shilpa also tells us that she is all set to face competition. She informs that more than anything else her focus will be on the game and her team’s performance. She is also excited about the unveiling of her team’s new jerseys in Jaipur.

Currently shooting for an album with director Ken Ghosh Shilpa informs that the song has been sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and choreographed by Ahmed Khan.

Imran can fight, saala!

2009-03-06T03:05:00.000-08:00

What mamu Aamir Khan can do, bhanja Imran Khan can aspire to copy. For starters, the boy’s taking his role as an actor just as seriously as

Aamir does.

So when producer Dhilin Mehta signed Imran for director Soham Shah’s action-adventure Luck opposite childhood friend Shruti Hassan, Imran decided to get into the skin of the character. For that, this is what he did: three months of strict dieting, body building, cable training, sky and deep-sea water diving, and more than that, preparing himself mentally to do dangerous stunts for the film.

“We were canning the climax with a fight scene on a burning train. I would have used a duplicate but, to my surprise, Imran was standing above the flaming train ready to give the shot,” said Soham. The producer had to be convinced by Imran to let him do the stunts himself. “He had to jump off a moving plane onto the train where massive explosions were taking place and do the fight scene. Imran did it in just three takes,” informed Soham. “He told me, ‘I will do it myself — a duplicate won’t look convincing.’ He is a determined boy.”

The film co-stars Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborthy, Danny Denzongpa and Ravi Kisshen. We are wondering why Sanju Baba allowed Imran to go ahead and do the shot without a double. When they made Kidnap together, Dutt not only forbade the young actor for attempting stunts himself, but also called Aamir and gave the mamu a piece of his mind.

Karan parties Hollywood style!

2009-03-06T03:04:00.000-08:00

SRK’s close brush with Holly-town beauties wasn’t enough, his best buddy, Karan Johar’s super-stylish way is no less than our

Western counterpart (assuming the Holly-Bolly much-awaited shaadi has happened, finally).

Post the grand Idea Filmfare Awards night, Karan threw a big bash for all the filmis at a suburban hotel. So very Oscarish, huh? When KJo hosts a party, all the movie makers and shakers turn up in huge numbers. There were the usual suspects (SRK-Gauri, Saif-Kareena, Karisma, Lara-Dino, Priyanka-Shahid, Ritiesh, Genelia, Arjun-Mehr, Uday Chopra, Parmeshwar Godrej) plus more glitterati that rocked the party.

Of course, it was minus paparazzi, so the stars could let their hair down without making any news splash. Ah, the poor photogs! The goss is that Karan plans to hosts a post-awards party every year; the filmi folks loved it so much that they’re insisting that he starts this trend. By the time we’re ready for the next awards, well, we think he’ll have a few Hollywood divas on the guest list, too. Yeh toh hona hi hai. Right KJo?

In the News

2009-03-02T13:52:00.001-08:00

Two otherwise sober actors - Irrfan Khan and Divya Dutta – have shot , perhaps the longest ever, a lip-locked scene in Bollywood. The scene was shot in Kerala sometime ago. Though both Irrfan and Divya had reservations about shooting the scene initially, as it was very long and passionate lip-lock and that too in the presence of the entire unit. However, they had to do it on the advice of the film's director. The director, Jennifer Lynch, instructed them to remain in that position and not to break the lip-lock until she asked them to do so. Incidentally, Irrfan has done it again but earlier it wasn't that long, after 'Namesake'. He says he has shot it for the film's sake
To allay the actors' fears, the director assured them that the same would be shot aesthetically! Justifying his passionate act, Irrfan Khan says that it was the need of the script. "In the film we both go through some crisis and the love-making scene happens after that", he adds. Isn't it amazing that the film that stars bold and sexy Mallika Sherawat in a venomous 'nagin' avatar, has the sober actors like Irrfan and Divya getting raunchy! Pity Irrfan and Divya!

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s

2009-02-28T14:22:00.001-08:00

The buzz is that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s not just a hanger-on in the international film ‘Pink Panther 2’. The latest is that Ash doesn’t really have two minutes of screen space as rumored earlier.

The buzz the movie would be incomplete without her role as the actress is apparently playing the main villain in the movie.A source close to the unit of the movie has apparently said, “She is actually the one who steals the Pink Panther diamond, and in the end, Steve Martin finds out.”

The role that Ash plays is that of Sonia Solandres, a criminology expert, in the film and she’s a part of the team of detectives who are trying to find the Pink Panther diamond.But reportedly towards the end, Inspector Clouseau figures out that Sonia, played by Ash, is the real culprit and no criminology expert.

Priyanka breaks her silence on Shahid Kapoor

2009-02-28T14:21:00.001-08:00

Priyanka who has been quiet about her private interactions with Shahid Kapoor on Facebook until now, calls it, “a clear and brutal invasion of privacy.”

Priyanka rationalises, “My brother Siddharth clued me in to Facebook. Almost everyone I know, is on the site.

If a couple of those conversations are picked on, what can I do?” However she says she isn’t affected by rumours of link-ups with Shahid, “I’m not here to live up to anyone’s expectations.

Because then I’m constantly conscious of what I’m doing. And that takes away from the honesty of my job. I’d much rather live up to my own expectations.

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

2009-02-28T02:38:00.001-08:00

After reading Navdeep Singh's early review of "OLLO" at PFC, I wanted to see this film the moment it was released here. After all, director Dibakar Banerjee directed the impeccable drama/comedy "Khosla ka Ghosla", and Navdeep Singh directed that gorgeous foray into desi noir "Manorama six feet under". They both couldn't be wrong, could they ?

After watching the 2 hour long OLLO, at the earliest possible time, I have to say that they aren't wrong, but they aren't very right either. Of course I went in to the film, buoyed by thoughts of "Khosla ka Ghosla". Of course I went in to the film relishing the thought of another well-made movie, from a director who knew what he was doing. And while it did turn out to be a well-made film, with exquisite attention to details, and wonderful character development, it definitely did not give me my money's worth.

Why, oh why, does this film not succeed, you might well ask ? Here's the short answer - there is no plot. At heart, I'm an old-fashioned girl. I like my films smart and sassy and with a "hook". The film must have a story, and the story must have a "problem", i.e.; the hook. The film must hold your attention, and progress(which it does) and RAMP UP (it does not).

OLLO as the title suggests is the story of Lucky, or Lovinder Singh Lucky, a Sardar born in dear old Delhi. And not the swanky side either, this is the Delhi of rooftops studded with TV antennas, open courtyards, and narrow galis. For one familiar with the city, or of the city born, this rendering of much-loved Delhi, warms the cockles of one's heart. Young Lucky (played marvellously by Manjot Singh) is a the son of a philandering father who's brought his mistress (whom everyone euphemistically refers to as Auntyji) home to live alongside his wife. Beaten by his father, Lucky is a kid with a false swagger in his step, and a sly word on his lips.

Lucky develops a penchant for trickery, because he wants the finer things in his life, fast. His small-time cons stay with him throught his growing years, only getting honed with time. As a young man, Lucky is an audacious thief, stealing because he can, and because it's his one-way ticket to every material thing he might covet. His life goes from one small-time heist to another, selling and pawning stolen goods, until there's only one possible way this could all end . . .

Abhay Deol really does pick off-beat films; from his "Socha na tha" to the very recent "Manorama 6 feet under", the roles he plays are not the standard Hindi film hero roles at all. As Lucky, Abhay does an excellent job, portraying the "good-natured thief" to the hilt. He holds his own against actor Paresh Rawal. Rawal plays three un-connected roles, and was fault-less in each of them; the only problem I saw lay with his accent, which did not appear to be Punjabi at all (dubbing might have given him more authenticity).

Manu Rishi plays Lucky's best friend Bangali, and Anurag Arora, with his very true Punjabi/Haryanvi lilt is a Special Branch Officer, in pursuit of Lucky. Neetu Chandra, as Lucky's lady love, is another excellent actress. Archana Puransingh, played a shrewish Punjabi house-wife, with all the typically Delhi-ite oily, overt posturing. Overall, the film featured an excellent cast.

It is obvious that Banerjee has taken pains with his characters. From the middle-class Dolly (Richa Chaddha), who realises that she is not English-speaking "gentry", to the apparently gentrified Mrs. Handa (PuranSingh), each role is carefully delineated. The screen-play is solid and dialogues apt. Banerjee makes sly digs at Delhi and it's class-consciousness as only one familiar with the city and it's culture can.

This film savors nostalgia. It features old melodies, goes quite retro in the begining with the titles, and makes quite a few references to that charismatic 80s icon, Vinod Khanna. With it's well-drawn characters you can't help feeling for, and it's very charming Delhi, Punjabi (you can call it what you want) feel, this film feels like a well-worn and much-loved garment; you cling to it because it reminds you of a city and a people you might have once known. The only problem here is that this garment is thread-bare.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-28T02:36:00.000-08:00

2005: Black (India); 2006: The Lives of Others (Germany); 2007: Juno (USA); 2009: Slumdog Millionaire (Britain). Every year it happens to me, watching a film from any country, that makes me think, be entertained, and fuels my passion to one day be a filmmaker and share my vision with the world. I had the pleasure to watch Danny Boyle’s, Slumdog Millionaire, with no knowledge of the plot, and being blown away by the endearing story. Was the entire movie really shot in India? Wow! You see the slums of Mumbai in all it’s glory, you see the innocence of children running through the streets through riots, you see the bustling commuters of a busy city as the backdrop of searching for someone’s true love.

Based on the book Q & A by Vikas Swarup, we are introduced to Jamal (Dev Patel), who is on his way of winning KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI (Who wants to be a millionaire?), yet there is scepticism from the game show host (Anil Kapoor) that a slumboy could know the answers and he gets him arrested. The policeman (Irrfan Khan) demands to know how Jamal could possibly know the answers to all the questions, and thus begins the journey of his experiences through flashback. With each question asked in the present, we learn from his past, that he learnt many things that common people would never know, without reading a book. As we move from flashback to the current time, where Jamal is proving his innocence, we learn that his real goal is to reunite with his true love Latika (Freida Pinto), whom he’s been searching for since he was a boy.

Slumdog Millionaire is the feel good movie of the year and is the biggest contender for best picture at the Oscars on February 22nd. The pacing of the story is fast-paced and you become eager to know how Jamal gets the answers right. Even though life has been unfair, he’s shown as a fighter and just never gives up despite all obstacles.

The film sets a benchmark on all levels. The adapted screenplay by Simon Beaufoy is suspenseful and intriguing. The cinematography is award winning by Anthony Dod Mantle. Editing by Chris Dickens is crisp. Music and score by AR Rahman blends perfectly in the background to the plot. Director Danny Boyle zooms competently through Jamal’s life and with ease so the viewer can’t help but fall in love with the main characters and the story. There is no bias, there is no religion, and the filmmaker ensures that even India is seen as a character in all its beauty.

On the acting side, all the newcomers are rising stars. Dev Patel acts confidently as the ambitious, defiant, courageous Jamal and you root for him till the very end. Bravo! Freida Pinto is a natural beauty that fills the screen with her damaged innocence. Her subtle chemistry with Dev is what made the characters feel real. Anil Kapoor is quite good as the cunning and cocky host; it’s great to see him really dig his teeth in this role. Irrfan Khan and Mahesh Manjrekar (villain) are adequate. Madhur Mittal, as Jamal’s older brother Salim, stands out. All the young actors playing Latika, Jamal, and Salim did an excellent job, especially in the sequence where they run away from an orphanage.

Thinking about this movie makes me smile and proves that the magic of movies is very much alive! Slumdog Millionaire is among the finest and most compassionate films I’ve ever seen about an underdog and is highly recommended to everyone. Enjoy!

Victory

2009-02-28T02:34:00.000-08:00

Ajitpal Mangat's Victory may not be a masterpiece but it does provide a big opportunity for Harman Baweja to showcase his acting abilities after a very forgettable debut in last year's sci-fi blunder, Love Story 2050. The good news is that the actor makes a superb comeback and carries a very average film all by himself with confidence.

Victory is the story of Vijay Shekhawat (played by Harman Baweja), a middle-class boy from Jaisalmer, whose dream of playing for the Indian cricket team gets fulfilled when he gets selected for India's tour of Australia. He becomes an overnight sensation but soon gets entangled in wealth, wine and women and loses focus on his game. Consequently he is suspended from the team and on realization of his follies, he decides to fight his way back to regain what he has just lost. The film also focuses on the relationship between Vijay and his father (Anupam Kher) and his friend (Amrita Rao).

It's very evident that director, Ajitpal Mangat, is a huge cricket fan and he succeeds tremendously in creating the numerous cricket sequences with flair. Roping in international cricketers like Brett Lee, Sanath Jayasuriya and Harbhajan Singh have definitely helped those sequences look very real. But Mangat is terribly let down by some uninspired writing. Agreed that most sports based films generally follow a formulaic plot but there are examples like Chak De India and Bend It Like Beckham which have improvised through smart writing and interesting characters. That just doesn't seem to happen with Victory. The screenplay is heavily clichéd, predictable and is mostly boring. That said, Mangat does have good hold on certain scenes and the emotional quotient works here and there. The film as a whole may not really appeal to the multiplex junta but it does have good chances at the single screens considering its commercial approach.

Victory is a major challenge for Harman Baweja to compensate for his disastrous debut and fortunately he does very well. He looks much more comfortable in front of the camera and his dialogue delivery has improved by a large extent. I truly believe he is that lambe race ka ghoda and hopefully things will only get better for him with Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Raashee. Given the right director and the right script, this guy has the potential to do wonders. Amrita Rao manages to leave a mark. Gulshan Grover is terrific as the shrewd businessman and so is Dalip Tahil as the coach of the Indian cricket team. Anupam Kher is bearable. We've seen him in similar roles before and it's somewhat of a disappointment after his brilliant act in A Wednesday.

The soundtrack has some very poor compositions by Anu Malik with We Love Kirket (sung by Kailash Kher) leading the pack. Lyrics are equally poor. The opportunity to create a cricket anthem is totally wasted, instead we get a very loud gibberish version of Balla Utha Chakka Laga. It's difficult to imagine a National Award winning composer churning out such run of the mill tracks. Cinematography is consistently good throughout the film and as mentioned the cricket sequences have been shot very well. Ballu Saluja could have done a better job with the editing; some odd 15-20 minutes require trimming. Background score is average.

Overall, Victory lacks an attention grabbing script and has nothing fresh to offer. It's not an entirely bad film but when cricket is involved, expectations are way higher. Watch it only for Harman Baweja and the impressive line-up of top cricketers.

Delhi 6 a tad too loud

2009-02-27T00:45:00.000-08:00

The unique aspect of Delhi 6, by the director’s own admission, are the particular sights and sounds of the city.

This, for one, is not something that’ll excite the viewer who has already felt the city’s vibe and visited it in recent films – Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Dev D and the like.

Yes, this is Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s autobiographical vision, but it has lost that edge of being the first one to give us a penetrating darshan of the city. Next: a young American coming to local city, saying `awesome’ and observing from a distance, falling for the girl next door, getting embroiled in local issues despite himself was seen in Swades. It’s a cliche that most protagonists who visit their home country must inevitably follow in our movies.

But Delhi 6 is not without fun and deeply etched characters. American citizen and a product of a Hindu father and Muslim mother, Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) agrees to drop his grandmother (Waheeda Rahman) to her home in Delhi where she has decided she wants to die.

The story starts as he reaches the city, and surrounded by traffic and people all around, exclaims an overwhelmed “awesome”. Warm and gregarious neighbours welcome them, and Roshan likes the place immediately.

That evening, at the Ramleela, he meets the Delhi-6’s people: his father’s childhood friend Ali Baig (Rishi Kapoor), Lalaji (Prem Chopra) who has just bought a young bride, a slimy young photographer who feeds off others’ dreams (Cyrus Shaukhar), and the two quarrelling brothers (Om Puri , Pawan Malhotra) who live side-by-side, the younger one better off than the other, and their wives (Supriya Pathak, Sheeba Chaddha) who pass mirchi pakodas to each other through a loose brick on the wall.

Then there’s the `masakali’ Bittu Sharma (Sonam Kapoor), daughter of the older brother (Om Puri), who wants to be the next Indian Idol, but is too terrified of her short-fuse dad to confess. So, when her father is all set to fix up marriage, having paid gold coins to the groom’s father and promised an expensive car, she wonders if rat poison is the answer or running away. The love story flourishes as Roshan encourages Bittu to stand up to her inflexible family.

Meanwhile the Kaala Bandar scare is full-throttle --- the panic conveniently used by everyone (a young wife sleeping with her lover, hopes her older husband will believe that is was the Kaala Bandar who was in her bedroom), with each story getting more fantastical than the other. Mehra uses this aspect to bring out the issues about the city—where at one point, the locality is divided in deciding whether the Monkeyman is a Hindu or a Muslim.

On a lighthearted note are moments where the traffic halts to make space for a cow giving birth, a holy man in saffron robes saying `Oh My God’, and the Dadi shopping (even bargaining) for her death.

Again, in Ramleela (the `untouchable’ Jalebi, played by Divya Dutt, is made to sit separately) where there is a sermon against this practice, Gobar (Atul Kulkarni) looks at Roshan’s piercing glare guiltily saying, “Ramji to bhagwan hai, unhe sab allowed hai.” Mehra refuses to show only the lighter side of the city and delves into its sinister side by showing the power-abusing local cop played by Vijay Raaz (whom Roshan calls a public servant and is immediately slapped as the cop thought he was called a servant), the hatred simmering below the open-hearted sharing of food, and the refusal of letting daughters think beyond marriage.

The picturisation of songs (and what songs!) is disappointing: one can visualise Genda Phool as a woman’s consortium singing together, and indeed you see the song when the wives are pounding chilies. Delhi 6 is again, expectedly, a melange of city’s slice-of-life shots. What surprises is the utterly romantic Rehna Tu, not picturised in a tender situation and Dil Gira Daftan pictured indulgingly.

Roshan’s character is immediately likeable, though there is hardly any complexity and we are never questioning what to make of him. Abhishek Bachchan is utterly believable , though the same can’t be said about his spotty accent.

Bittu is interesting, but you don’t warm up to her. We’ve seen too much of the sweet girl who loves chaat, jumps at jalebis and talks of her ambition with a , “mujhe apni pehchaan banana hai” dialogue. Sonam Kapoor is an earnest and effortless performer so she does make you like the character somewhat, despite the typical Delhi-girl recipe.

The portrayal of Delhi and its people seems tad too loud: note the aarti where the men go almost berserk, singing tunelessly, till the electricity goes off silencing them.

Towards the end, the film goes ballistic with sermons about nafrat and laalach; and you won’t believe this, a trip up in the skies where we see Amitabh Bachchan in an off-white shawl.

Camerawork (Binod Pradhan, Rang De Basanti) matches the city’s dynamism and is as delightfully chaotic as its subject. Sound by Nakul Kamte is fantastic. Art Direction is marvelous. But the real star is the soul-stirring music by AR Rahman, lending the film its very essence.

Delhi 6 is like a great song you want to like anxiously. But only, it's distorted for being played decibels too loud.

kshay Kumar cooks for Kylie Minogue

2009-02-27T00:44:00.000-08:00

Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue dropped in at Akshay Kumar & Twinkle`s home for lunch on Thursday.

Kylie is in India to film a song for Akshay`s underwater thriller Blue, which is being directed by Anthony D`Souza and produced by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd.

`Kylie and some of Akshay and Twinkle Khanna`s close friends from the industry, plus the Blue crew were invited for lunch by the actor on Thursday afternoon. This is supposed to be his way of making her comfortable in Mumbai,` a source close to Akshay revealed.

Akshay had decided to do some of the cooking himself for the special guest.

Sanjay Dutt to join ANC rally at Durban

2009-02-27T00:42:00.000-08:00

Durban: Film actor turned politician Sanjay Dutt may still be finding his feet in politics back home, but in South Africa the Munnabhai star is being billed a "comrade" and he will be sharing a platform with top African National Congress (ANC) officials here on Sunday.

Sanjay Dutt disappoints Lucknow fans

Dutt, who has been at the centre of much controversy in India of late for his decision to join the Samajwadi Party that is in opposition to the Congress Party that his late father Sunil Dutt represented, is expected to make a fleeting visit to this coastal city, joining ANC president Jacob Zuma at an election rally in the huge Indian township of Chatsworth.

South Africa is heading for what observers say will be its most hotly-contested elections yet since the first democratic votes were cast in 1994, as the ruling ANC will on April 22 also be fighting a party started by some of it former leaders, the Congress of the People (COPE).

The first hint of Dutt's support for the ANC came in a radio commercial which says: "Greetings, my name is Zweli Mkhize and I'm the provincial chairperson of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal. I want to take this opportunity to invite all members of the public to a mass rally with our president Jacob Zuma at the Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday, March 1, at 9 a.m.

I will contest on SP ticket: Sanjay Dutt

"This will be one of the few occasions that people of Durban will have a chance to listen to Comrade Zuma as we prepare to go into elections. An added surprise will be the inclusion of Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt on the programme.

"Sanjay is currently visiting South Africa and has given his full support to the ANC. Come and listen to Comrade Jacob Zuma and Comrade Sanjay Dutt live at the Chatsworth Stadium this Sunday at 9 am. You are all welcome - see you there!"

Dutt's appearance will probably lure thousands of Indian to the stadium as Bollywood stars have a huge following here. The move has been seen as a strategic one by analysts here as parties across the spectrum have in recent weeks been using various ways of attracting the vote of the local Indian community in the province where 75 per cent of the 1.2 million South African Indians reside.

In Lucknow, Sanjay Dutt promises to follow father’s footsteps

An informed source said that Dutt would also visit the Mahatma Gandhi Settlement at Phoenix, where the community centre and school started by then young lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi during his tenure here at the turn of the last century are still being run today.

Jugaad

2009-02-26T02:42:00.000-08:00

Producer	Sandeep Kapur
Director	Anand Kumar
Music	Sachin Gupta, Krishna
Writer	Sandeep Kapur
Lyrics	Sameer, Rohit Sharma, Mohd. Nasir, Saahiel
Release Date	13-Feb-2

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

2009-02-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

Director: Karan Johar
Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Year: 2006
Running Time: Approx 3.5 hours

Whenever Karan Johar releases a new film it is a very big deal and an increasingly rare event – comparable to a royal coronation or the birth of a Panda at the National Zoo. He is the wunderkind of the Indian film industry (34 years-old now) and news of his next film is followed by the public with a voracious appetite for every morsel of data or every stray rumor. Having two of the biggest films in Indian history will cause that kind of reaction. His debut film in 1999, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH), is one of the most popular romances ever and his next film in 2001, Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham (K3G), was an enormous box office hit. Then Johar went silent like a submarine waiting for the depth charges to pass by. Lots of stories circulated about various projects and directions that he wanted to go in, but they were like wisps of smoke in the wind and one had to begin to wonder if there was a certain trepidation on his part about his next film – doubts that he could possibly match his earlier efforts must have hung over him like a giant shadow.

Johar is the master of the emotional counter punch – he sets up his audience with breezy humor and likable characters and then piles on the melodrama with the force of a heavyweight boxer at the top of his game – a couple jabs to the face, stick it hard to the stomach and then a crunch to the head as your emotional façade crumbles like jelly. He could pull tears out of a desert rock. His manipulation of your emotions is obvious and nearly cruel and though you realize what is happening it doesn’t really matter because he aims at the big fat targets that affect most of us – love of family, love of country and a fated love. Though a slick feel of modernity color his films with hip fashions, discos and attitude, behind this is an adherence to traditional Indian film values - respect for your parents, faithfulness and patriotism. Both of his first two films inched out of this broad outline ever so barely – in KKHH the male character falls in love with a another woman (Kajol) after his wife has died but gets the ghostly blessing of his dead wife before doing so and in the very conservative K3G a man breaks with his parents but in the end is of course reconciled to them and the one non-traditional female (Kareena) is brought back into the fold of Indian womanliness by the end.

In Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK) Johar seems to be attempting to go for something that breaks the ropes of tradition but in doing so he seems to have lost his magical touch – he looks uncomfortable crossing this unfamiliar terrain and the film never comes close to reaching the emotional heights of either his two previous films. One might argue that his subject material has grown up – it’s no longer Archie and Veronica in college with obvious straightforward messages of love but instead he goes for a conflicted emotional canvass where nothing is absolute – and this is very true but in doing so there is no final knockout blow – no moment in which you simply lose yourself within your weepy solitude. There is no love to cheer for and in reality no characters to root for – everyone is so flawed that you sit back and wait for them to self-destruct. This certainly makes for a much more unpredictable film than before and I found myself surprised that in the end Johar didn’t fall back into the comfort of a traditional Indian ending but instead a much more realistic one (the specific melodrama withstanding) in today’s world where very little lasts forever. A part of me admires him for taking some chances for a change, but I just wish I had liked the film more.

The film tells the story of two married couples – NRI’s living in NYC – and in retrospect one suspects that setting the film outside of India allowed Johar to go where he does with the story and the moral questions that are raised. One couple is Dev (Shahrukh Khan) and Rhea (Preity Zinta) who have been married about ten years with a small son and from all evidence their marriage is going through a rough spot. He had been a top football (soccer) star until an injury forced him to become an elementary school coach, while Rhea has become a huge success in the fashion magazine business. This change in their status causes much friction and bitterness on Dev’s part. The other couple has been married only for a few years but there too it appears that all is not well - Rishi (Abhishek Bachchan) is a fun loving party animal who won’t grow up while his wife Maya (Rani Mukerjee) wants him to settle down and become more serious. Left unstated for the most part but clearly an underlying concern is her inability to have children. But beneath all of this seems to be the real demon in the house – neither Dev nor Maya are truly in love with their mates anymore and perhaps never really were.

Dev and Maya meet cute and over time first become friends who agonize with each other over their respective marriages and slowly begin to realize that they are in love with one another – but they both try and fight off these feelings and patch up their marriages – divorce is not something they want to contemplate. Their better halves stay unaware of this growing attachment of their partners and in fact begin to believe that their marriage is working itself out. It doesn’t. And everybody lives happily ever after.

There are a couple basic elements that never allow you to fully embrace this story or the characters. The focus of the film is clearly on Dev and Maya with their spouses showing up primarily as jousting points – but they are not very likable people for the most part. In fact both Rishi and Rhea seem to be much better rounded appealing characters but instead the audience is stuck having to wallow in the self pity of the other two. Dev or Shahrukh’s characterization of him is all edges, sarcasm and anger and his well-known charm feels so brittle and bitter – probably a little like what Shahrukh is after a few drinks and a fight with his wife. It’s not a bad performance per se but it was a poorly written script that made him so one-note. I found him so unlikable that the less time I spent with him the better and it’s difficult to conceive of the sensitive and needy Maya falling for this emotionally hollow angry man. Yes, love is strange but even stranger in the movies. Maya is no prize either, as she has no sense of fun, romance or passion and is as cold a fish as one could find – all allure on the outside and frozen on the inside. This is certainly explained by the fact that she is trapped in a marriage with a good man that she can’t force herself to love as much as she wants to, but that makes her no more appealing. Again, a good performance but it is hard to give a fig for either of them and for their finding each other as “soul mates”.

The film breaks into two very definite sections – the first half is spiced up by some comic set pieces that are in fact very funny even if they approach sitcom territory – the scene with Rani in leather and whip mode is rather classic but so out of character and absurd that it feels like we jumped into another film. Their “meet cute” scene is similar – it works because it is funny but again it felt so untrue to reality (which is where Johar is trying to push this film) that it is almost uncomfortable to watch. The scenes with Amitabh Bachchan playing the womanizing father of Rishi treaded through the same strange mongrel world – his over the top character was amusing in itself but it felt like it was written for another film – and when he finally tones it down near the end and brings his acting weight into the film it made me sad that we had so little of this previously – no one today has the animal force of a serious Amitabh but as a whoring old man it seemed a rather frivolous use of his time. At the same time these comic moments are easily the most entertaining of the film because the love story that evolves in the second half of the movie has the movement of oil sludge but a lot less impact – it takes so long to go anywhere that I would not have been surprised to have found out that Bush had invaded another country or two in the meantime. By the end you just want them to be together – to torture each other and not the audience. KKHH admittedly had a similar structure – a light somewhat cartoony first half followed by a second half with a truckload of melodrama, but it worked perfectly there because it created two characters that you loved – here you just want them to leave you alone. Cue for Maya to cry some more.

Another element that has made Johar’s films so strong are the musical numbers filled with memorable tunes and wonderful choreography, but again he went in another direction using Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy as his composers. At least on first go through none of the numbers seemed particularly interesting – the two big numbers were both semi-disco driven beats with MTV edits and dance moves and the others were forgettable ballads with dull picturization. The cast is top choice as is the case with all of his films – Shahrukh now being in all his three films as is Rani – and certainly bringing Abhishek and Preity into his group of favorite actors is a good thing. And let’s not forget Kajol who gives the film more zing in her small cameo than it deserved. All do fine jobs and are not to blame for this film simply not having the energy that it is missing. This film might grow on me in time, but my guess is I won’t give it many if any opportunities to do so.

MUSIC REVIEW OF JAANE TU… YA JAANE NAA

2009-02-19T07:00:00.001-08:00

'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na' has undergone a complete transformation from its earlier avatar a year ago. And, this has been possible because of extraordinary efforts of Bollywood's perfectionist Aamir Khan. The latter has taken enough pain to pay his gratitude to his uncle whose son Imraan Khan is producing his debut. Since turning a co-producer of the movie , Aamir Khan changed the music director ; he dropped Himesh Reshammiya and chose no less than the best A R Rahman and entrusted the job to him, presumably impressed by the latter's music of 'Jodhaa-Akbar' and 'Ada'. Incidentally, the music is sung by a large number of new faces, besides the biggies like Rahman and Sukhwinder. Interestingly, the movie's director Abbas Tyrewala is also the movie's lyrics writer, and he has given good and meaningful lyrics to the music director.

Let's start with A.R.Rahman's "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi". This is a funky hit and the acoustic guitar's strings have successfully supported the song. As its title indicates the song uplifts the listener's mood by providing him or her complete relaxation from the worldly worries. Then enters Rashid Ali; his vocals are refreshing and youthful. We may treat it as a lounge number.

Now, comes the hip shaking track "Papu can't dance Sala". This is rendered by young singers like Blaze, Mohd. Aslam, Tanvi, Anupama Deshpande, Benny Dayal, Darshana and Satish Subramanium .This is another good and peppy one. This track has come up very well despite the singers hailing from amongst the younger lot. This track has Remix version as well but Hinglish lyrics haven't fared too well.

The next track is "Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai" by Runa Rizvi, who is the most suitable person for this song. Though this is a slow paced track yet its lyrics are a pleasure to ears. The track has another version, too, sung by Sukhwinder. Since it's a slow paced track, it has turned monotonous.

Now, is the turn of 'Tu Bole Main Boloon'. This is sung by Rehman himself. Again, it's a slow paced track, but with a loud music. Wish Rahman had reduced its sound. This is followed by another track "Nazrein Milaana Nazrein Churaana". This is sung by a team comprising Swetha Bhargave, Naresh Iyer, Satish Chakravarthye, Tanvi, Darshana, Benny Dayal and Anupama Deshpande. This is another good song on the lines of A.R.Rahman though by his younger lot. One cannot miss it and if one misses, he or she will be a loser. The last track of the album is "Kahin To Hogi Woh". This is rendered by Vasundhara Das and Rashid Ali. Though this track is also slow paced but the singers have made it listenable. The credit goes to the lyrics writer. Rashid's voice is sweet and forceful and so is Vasundhara's rendering.

On the whole, the album is good and a listenable one. And, its credit goes to Rahman who has directed the team of his younger lot very well.

DIA MIRZA'S CRAZE HER DREAM ROLE

2009-02-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

Dia Mirza is still very far from what she deserves in the industry and therefore rightly rues the fact that she has not yet found her dream role. She said this in a recent chat with the media. She has been lying low for quite some time though she is being seen in Rakesh Roshan's 'Krazzy 4'. She reveals as to why her name was kept a secret from the star cast of the movie. She has played a journalist in the film, trying to reform the four crazy people. It's an important role. Juhi Chawla plays a psychiatrist and she acts as a journalist. Though the film is a comedy, she plays a very serious role, she asserts. Her role in 'Krazzy 4' is much different from her earlier character in Apoorva Lakhia's 'Shoot Out At Lokhandwala' though she plays a journo there, too. She has several movies on hand like Ashu Trikha's 'Zindagi Tere Naam', Sanjay Gupta's 'Alibaug', and another comedy - 'Fruit and Nut' and Soojit Sircar's 'Shoebite' with Amitabh Bachchan. However, she is banking on National Award-winning director Manmohan Mahapatra's 'Bits and Pieces'. Excerpts of the interview:

Are you satisfied with your present status in the industry?

I have done good work and I am almost 30 films old, but I have yet to get that one role which I can really talk about.

What's your latest movie?

I am making an appearance in Rakesh Roshan's 'Krazzy 4'.

How come this fact didn't come out in the open?

I am the surprise package of the film. This was deliberately kept a secret. Rakeshji didn't want the audience to know that I am featuring in the film, as they wanted to give the viewers a surprise.

What's your role vis-à-vis lead actor Juhi Chawla?

I play a journalist in the film, trying to reform the four crazy people. It's an important role. Juhi Chawla plays a psychiatrist and I am a journalist. Though the film is a comedy, I play a very serious role to play.

Isn't your role in 'Krazzy 4' quite different from your earlier roles?

You are right. I played a journalist in Apoorva Lakhia's 'Shoot Out At Lokhandwala' in the past. But the two roles are poles apart. Here I am shown doing a lot of social work.

What else?

I am also doing Ashu Trikha's 'Zindagi Tere Naam', where I will also be performing an item song. Sanjay Gupta's 'Alibaug' is also a wonderful film. I am doing another comedy - 'Fruit and Nut'. Then there is Soojit Sircar's 'Shoebite' with Amitabh Bachchan, but it is too early to talk about this.

What are you looking forward to?

I am now looking forward to National Award-winning director Manmohan Mahapatra's 'Bits and Pieces'.

BOLLYWOOD MOVES TO HOLLYWOOD

2009-02-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

Brad Listermann, a US banker, has turned a complete filmmaker. Though he may not confess it but it appears that he entered into film production following his marriage with Indian actress Kashmira Shah. Brad claims that his 'My Bollywood Bride' is going to be better than 'Bride And Prejudice'. Besides, he also claims that he has taken Bollywood to Hollywood rather than vice versa. "Yes, my real life seems to have sneaked into 'My Bollywood Bride' to lend the movie more excitement", he adds. Besides, Brad has written two other screenplays apart from this, and wants to direct them too. When asked about his cast, Brad proudly informed that he has signed a Hollywood hero Jason Lewis of 'Sex and The City' fame.

How come he has been reluctant to offer the heroine's role to his wife, Brad says that he wanted her to play the lead role, but Kashmira thought of sparing her energy to help him in the film production. Later, she agreed at the persuasion of Sanjay Suri, another lead character, of the Hollywood romantic comedy set in Mumbai. Brad admits that Kashmira would certainly prove her worth in the movie. He is firm in his opinion that Bollywood provides a better working environment than Hollywood. Since the movie is made for the western audience, the duration of the movie is limited to 95 minutes. Similarly, it has only short songs unlike Bollywood's having long duration ones He is very excited that his movie will run at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. From there, Brad will take it further to other parts of the world.

Kareena Kapoor

2009-02-19T03:01:00.000-08:00

Name: Kareena Kapoor
Birthday: Sunday, September 21, 1980
Star Sign : Virgo
Family: Father - Randhir Kapoor, Mother: Babita Kapoor
Address: 2-B/110 Excellency, 4th Cross Road, Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri (W), Mumbai 400 061, INDIA
First Film : Refugee

Biography
Kareena Kapoor, nicknamed "Bebo" (born September 21, 1980 in Bombay, India) is a Bollywood actress. She is part of the famous Kapoor family.

Kareena is the great-great-granddaughter of Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor, and great-granddaughter of Prithviraj Kapoor, who was a famous actor. She is the granddaughter of actor and producer Raj Kapoor and daughter of Randhir Kapoor and actress Babita. Her great uncles are Shashi Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor. Her uncles are Rishi Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor.

Her cousins are Ranbir Kapoor, Riddhima Kapoor, Shivani Kapoor and Nikhil Nanda who is married to Amitabh Bachchan's daughter, Shweta Nanda. Her sister Karisma Kapoor is also in the film industry.

Her first movie was J. P. Dutta's Refugee which was released on June 30, 2000 and included co-debutant Abhishek Bachchan in the cast. Though the film didn't do well her performance was praised. Her first hit was the film Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai.

Her other notable roles include "Pooja" in the inter-generational melodrama Kabhie Kushi Kabhie Gham, "Kaurwaki" in Asoka, the title role in Chameli, in which she plays a prostitute and her role as a riot victim in Dev, for which she won the Filmfare Critics Award Best Performance.

Since then she has appeared in the hit Aitraaz, but succeeding film have not done as well.

She is currently dating actor-boyfriend Shahid Kapoor (they starred together in the 2004 movie Fida which did not succeed at the box office).

A passerby with a camera phone filmed Kareena kissing her boyfriend Shahid Kapoor (in a hotel's public area) and released the video. A Mumbai newspaper published stills from the video. Kareena and Shahid at first denied that the pictures were of them, but later reversed themselves and complained of an invasion of privacy.

Katrina Kaif

2009-02-19T02:58:00.000-08:00

Katrina Kaif

Personal Profile (Personal Biography)
Date of Birth (Birthday): 16 July, 1984
Hair Color: Black
Birth Place: Hong Kong, China
Marital Status: Single
Languages: English, Poor Hindi

Family Background
Mother's Name: british
Spouse: boyfriend Salman Khan

Film Background (Filmography)
Debut Film: Boom
Famous Movies: Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, Sarkar, Boom
Latest Movies: Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya
Other Facts: She is half indian

Aishwarya Rai

2009-02-19T02:56:00.000-08:00

Aishwarya Rai is one of Bollywood's pre-eminent leading ladies. This Indian darling burst upon the world stage when her striking beauty, poise and commanding intelligence won her the Miss World crown in 1994. This former architecture major soon became one of India's most famous models landing a prestigious Pepsi campaign and appearing in Vogue Magazine. India's top Bollywood directors were soon lining up to work with Ash. Her film debut in Mani Rathnam's 'Iruvar' (1997) received critical acclaim and her performance in Rahul Rawail's '…Aur Paar Ho Gaya' (1997) garnered her the Best Female Debutante Award. In 2000 she was awarded Best Actress by FilmFare and Zee Cine for her work in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam", in that same year, nominated for Best SUPPORTING Actress for her special appearance in Aditya Chopra's MOHABBATEIN. In 2001 Ash was nominated for FilmFare's Best Actress Award for Satish Kaushik's "Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai".

Ash's star continued to rise in 2002 working again with Sajay Leela Bhansali in 'Devdas'. 'Devdas' is the most ambitious and most successful film in Bollywood history. It became the first Bollywood picture to ever receive a special screening at this year's Cannes Film Festival and broke box-office records in India and the United States. Daily Variety's (06/12/02) Derek Elley describes 'Devdas' as "some of the most sumptuous production values in Bollywood history…" Elley describes Ash as "almost Audrey Hepburn-like", Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann says "I loved her in Devdas" and Julia Roberts calls her "the world's most beautiful woman".

2003 brought even more exciting opportunities. Ash became the first Indian actor to be a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Ash is also the latest member of the elite L'Oreal Dream Team, joining beauties Catherine Deneuve & Andie MacDowell as their international ambassador. She graced the covers of India Today and the prestigious TIME Magazine. Time Magazine has also listed her on their list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World Today”. She has graced numerous covers worldwide including USA, UK, CHINA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL, UNITED EMERITES, ITALY, SPAIN and FRANCE. Ash was also listed on Rolling Stone Magazine's annual "Hot List", Hello Magazine’s Most Attractive Women in the World”, Stuff Magazine, FHM magazine, V-Life from Variety Magazine, GQ Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Harper’s & Queen and countless others.

2004 saw Aishwarya take on the leading role in her first English language film for Gurinder Chadha in “Bride & Prejudice”. She also became the first Indian female to be immortalized in wax at the world famous Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in London.
2005 started with appearances on “60 Minutes”, “David Letterman Show” and the most watched television program in the world the “Oprah Winfrey Show”; Aishwarya’s career continues to grow even stronger - she will soon be seen in Mistress of Spices for director Paul Berges, Jag Mundhra’s Provoked, Sanjay Gadhvi’s Dhoom 2 and legendary film producer Dino De Laurentiis’s Last Legion opposite Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley. The Queen of Bollywood is already becoming the talk of tinseltown and is currently in negotiations on two major motion pictures.

Filmography 1997 : Iruvar by Mani Ratnam (in Tamil) (Telugu title: Iddaru)

1997 : Aur Pyar Ho Gaya by Rahul Rawail

1998 : Jeans by S. Shankar (in Tamil)

1999 : Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Filmfare Best Actress Award)

1999 : Aa Ab Laut Chalein by Rishi Kapoor

1999 : Taal by Subhash Ghai

2000 : Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai by Satish Kaushik

2000 : Mohabbatein by Aditya Chopra (cameo)

2000 : Dhai Akshar Prem Ke by Raj Kanwa

2000 : Josh by Mansoor Khan

2000 : Kandukondain Kandukondain by Rajiv Menon (in Tamil)

2000 : Sanam Tere Hain Hum by Jayant Paranji (special appearance)

2001 : Albela by Deepak Sareen

2002 : Devdas by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Filmfare Best Actress Award)

2002 : Hum Kisise Kum Nahin by David Dhawan

2002 : Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam by K.S. Adiyaman (special appearance)

2002 : 23rd March 1931 : Shaheed by Guddu Dhanoa

2002 : Shakti (movie) by Krishna Vamshi (special appearance)

2003 : Kuch Na Kaho by Rohan Sippy

2002 : Nee Kidappen Njan Adippen: The Power by Krishna Vamshi

2003 : Dil Ka Rishta by Naresh Malhotra

2003 : Chokher Bali by Rituparno Ghosh (in Bengali)

2003 : Khakee by Rajkumar Santoshi

2004 : Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na by Samir Karnik

2004 : Bride and Prejudice by Gurinder Chadha (in English)

2004 : Raincoat by Rituparno Ghosh

2005 : Shabd by Leena Yadav

2005 : Bunty Aur Babli by Shaad Ali (special appearance)

2005 : The Heart of India by Ganapathy Bharat (in English)

2005 : Mistress of Spices by Paul Mayeda Berges (in English)

2006 : Provoked by Jagmohan Mundhra (in English) (filming)

2006 : Dhoom 2 by Sanjay Gadhvi (filming)

2006 : Umrao Jaan by J.P. Dutta (filming)

2006 : Singularity by Roland Joffé (in English)

2006 : Akbar-Jodha by Ashutosh Gowariker (pre-production)

2006 : The Last Legion by Doug Lefler (in English)

2006: "Chaos" by Coline Serreau (in English)

2006 : Indie Pop by Miko Reyes (pre-production)

2006 : Guru by Mani Ratnam (announced)

Aishwarya Rai : Biography

Aishwarya Rai was born in the South indian state of Karnataka in Manglore on 1st Nov 1973. She was younger of the two siblings, her brother being 3 years elder. When she was about 4 years old, her family moved to Bombay permanently. Her father worked as a merchant navy officer. Aishwarya did her schooling at Arya Vidya Mandir, Santacruz. Academically, she did very well and earned her position as the head girl of her school. Ash chose the science stream while at DG Ruparel College, her favorite subject being Zoology. Aishwarya wanted to do medicine, but circumstances didn't let her. Instead she chose Architecture and passed the interview at Raheja College with flying colors. By this time, Aishwarya had started getting modelling assignments. She then decided to take a break from architecture and concentrate on modelling. This green-blue eyed beauty stole ads for many prestigious firms, the ones which brought her into the limelight were the garden sari and the pepsi ad. Crowned Miss femina '94 runner up, she was a hot favorite to win the miss world title, which she did ! Her beauty and charm made her India's darling. She bagged Filmfare Award for best actress for her performance in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) as Ajay Devgan's wife who is in love with another man. She also won rave reviews for her performance as a rape victim in Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (2000). In 2003 she bagged another filmfare award for best actress for the role of paro, she portrays in film Devdas. She had a well publicised affair with Salman Khan which lasted 2 years. Apparently his endless tantrums traumatized her enough to give a press conference in spring 2003 where she declared that she would never work with him again for personal reasons. In April 2003, she suffered an accident on the sets of Khakee (2003). She broke a bone in one foot and suffered severe cuts. The incident rekindled the discussion about poor safety standards on Bollywood film sets. Aishwarya's bagged a parallel role opposite 'Meryl Streep' in French director 'Coline Serreau's' Chaos. 2003 has been her annus mirabilis. On the jury at Cannes, the international festival circuit with Chokher Bali, the crossover sets of Bride And Prejudice, the cover of Time magazine. And now she's all set to waltz into Hollywood. The film trade traditionally treats its heroines as completely interchangeable assets. Aishwarya Rai is the only Indian woman in world's Top 10 looking women.

Aishwarya Rai: Movies

Mohabbatein ( Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Uday Chopra, Jugal Hansraj, Jimmy Shergill, Shamita Shetty, Kim Sharma, Preeti Jhangiani, Aishwarya Rai), Shabd ( Aishwarya Rai, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan), Khakee ( Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Tusshar Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai), Raincoat ( Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgan), Kyon, Ho Gaya Na ( Aishwarya Rai, Vivek Oberoi, Amitabh Bachchan), Bride and Prejudice ( Aishwarya Rai, Martin Hendersen, Namrata Shirodkar, Meghna Kothari, Peeya Rai Choudhary, Naveen Andrews, Anupam Kher), Chokher Bali ( Aishwarya Rai, Raima Sen), Kuch Naa Kaho ( Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai), Dil Ka Rishta ( Aishwarya Rai, Arjun Rampal, Priyanshu Chatterjee), Devdaas ( Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit), Hum Kisise Kum Nahin ( Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai), Albela ( Govinda, Aishwarya Rai, Jackie Shroff), Dhai Akshar Prem Ke ( Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai), Taal ( Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor), Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai ( Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre), Josh ( Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Priya Gill, Chandrachur Singh, Sharad Kapoor), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ( Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgan).

Aishwarya Rai Photo Gallery

Aishwarya Rai

International Stardom Devdas, in which Aishwarya joined Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, was a huge hit, lavishly produced as it was. The film attracted overseas attention as well, receiving a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival.

Rai was becoming an international star rather than simply a Bollywood one. In 2003, Rai was a member of the jury at Cannes. In 2004, she was chosen by TIME Magazine's Asian Edition as one of Asia's "100 Most Influential People." Rai was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on January 2, 2005 - "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World." A month later she appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, and on April 25, 2005, she was featured on Oprah's "Women Across the Globe" segment. A wax figure of Rai is on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

Although frequently the subject of gossip column speculation about an imminent Hollywood career, it was only in 2004 that Rai finally acted in a foreign film. British director Gurinder Chadha hired her to play the heroine in Bride and Prejudice, a Hollywood-funded but Bollywood-ized version of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice. The movie did well at the box office and Aishwarya's Hollywood profile rose a notch.

Rai is now said to be signed for another Hollywood movie, Rolland Joffe's project Singularity. She will star opposite Brendan Fraser.

She is in the cast for The Last Legion co-starring Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley.

She recently (summer of 2005) completed filming on director Jagmohan Mundhra's film Provoked. She is co-starring with Nandita Das. The film was shot mainly in Britain.

Profesion	Actress & Model
Nick Name	Aishu
Also Known As	Aish
Date of Birth	November 1, 1973
Zodiac Sign	Scorpio
Place of Birth	Mangalore, India
Height	5' 7"
Weight	122 lbs
Eyes	Blue-Green
Favorite Car	Mercedes
Favorite Film	Casablanca
Fluent in	English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil & Urdu
Food Habits	Not fussy about food at all.
She Loves	Honesty, Family, Friends, Dignity, strength of character, and Chocolates!
She Dislikes	Gossip, hypocrisy & Cockroaches.
Her Dream Man	Real!
Idea of Love	What her parents share
Worst Weakness	Willingness to take people at face value.
Best Strength	Self assurance
Best Quality	Genuineness! Nothing about her is plastic
Philosophy	It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice
Favorite Perfume	Sporty colognes for the day while working. Exotic, oriental and woody fragrances for the evenings
Turn On's	Razor sharp intelligence, witty repartees.
Idea of Sexy	A combo of vulnerability and intelligence.
She Admires	Strength of charector
She Bbelieves in	God above everything else and then herself
Family	Father: Krishnaraj Rai Mother: Vrinda Rai Brother: Aditya Rai
Favorite Compliment	A child at an orphanage told her that her warmth over shines her beauty. Also, that she is "REAL" inside and out.
Favorite Colors	White & Blue
Favorite Actor	A.B, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor
Favorite Actress	Madhubala & Nargis
Education	Arya Vidya Mandir, Santacruz, Bombay, India
Academic Record	Excellent
College	DG Ruparel College, Matunga, Bombay, India
Message	Life’s a stage, and we’re all characters. So play your part and play it well!

Trivia Was positioned at number 3 in the Filmfare Top Ten Actress' List.[1]

Praised by several people, including Julia Roberts ([2], [3]) and film critic Roger Ebert ([4]) as the most beautiful woman in the world.

Canadian supermodel Linda Evangelista is reported to have called her "stunning".

She is said to have been offered a stint as a runway model for Roberto Cavalli.

Is the highest paid actress in the Bollywood film industry.

India Times named Aishwarya #1 on the list of the "100 Most Beautiful Indian Women in the Past Century".

Was featured in the 2004 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

L'Oréal signed her as its new international brand ambassador, on April 2003.

Was placed number seven on "The World’s 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies On Earth".

Is fluent in languages such as English, Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil.

Awards

Sanjay Dutt

2009-02-19T02:55:00.000-08:00

Sanjay Dutt son of Nargis and Sunil Dutt was born on 29 July 1959. His hell raisin's days are behind him. Now he has settled into a steady pace. He's moved on from lover boy and action hero roles to try his hand successfully at slick gangster movies and comedy. He has turned producer also from film Kaante. Now he is in the position when he can book himself the kind of roles he fancies. He started his film career with Rocky (1981). Although the film did well, but it failed to promote him as an established actor. In a period of 20 years in Bollywood, he acted in about 60 films which uplifted Sanjay Dutt and established him in the Film Industry though he had many ups and downs. Today he is one of the top 10 Bollywood actors. He had an affair with actress Madhuri Dixit when they were doing Thanedaar (1989)together. Sanjay's personal life was exacerbate by drug problems and worsened with the death of his first wife Richa from cancer. He was arrest two times once under 'TADA' then for having illegal possession of several AK-57 weapons and was imprisoned while the case continued. After his release from jail he had three consecutive hits ... Daag - The Fire (1999), Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999) and Vaastav (1999). All these movies brought him moderate success. His performance in Vaastav (1999) earned him the Best Actor in a Leading Role award at Film Fare. Then sanjay appeared in the movie Mission Kashmir (2000), Kaante (2002) which were another award winning performances. Sanjay Dutt has got married to his long-time girl friend, Rhea who stood by him in times of grief, agony and at a time when he really needed one who could well understand him. The wedding was a sensation it was held at hotel Taj on Valentine's Day. His last movie Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) was a super duper comedy hit of the year. He also got the Film Fare best Comedian award for this movie.

Sanjay Dutt: Movies

Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi ( Sanjay Dutt, Shahid Kapur, Amrita Rao, Arshad Warsi), Mohabbat Ho Gayi Hai Tumse ( Sanjay Dutt, Shamita Shetty, Chandrachur Singh), Dus ( Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol), Parineeta ( Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Sanjay Dutt, Raima Sen), Shabd ( Aishwarya Rai, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan), Rakht ( Bipasha Basu, Sanjay Dutt, Dino Morea, Neha Dhupia, Sunil Shetty, Amrita Arora), Tango Charlie ( Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Bobby Deol, Ajay Devgan, Tanishaa), Musafir ( Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Sameera Reddy, Koena Mitra, Mahesh Manjrekar), Deewar ( Amitabh Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Amrita Rao, Sanjay Dutt), Rudraksh ( Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu), LoC Kargil ( Abhishek Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Sunil Shetty, Manoj Bajpai, Sanjay Kapoor), Plan ( Sanjay Dutt, Dino Morea, Sanjay Suri, Bikram Saluja, Priyanka Chopra, Mahesh Manjrekar), Munnabhai MBBS ( Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Dutt, Gracy Singh, Arshad Warsi), Ek Aur Ek Gyarah ( Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff), Hathyar ( Sanjay Dutt, Shilpa Shetty, Sharad Kapoor), Annarth ( Sunil Shetty, Preeti Jhangiani, Sanjay Dutt, Ashutosh Rana, Shweta Menon), Maine Dil Tujhko Diya ( Sohail Khan, Sameera Reddy, Sanjay Dutt), Kaante ( Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Lucky Ali), Hum Kisise Kum Nahin ( Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai), Pitaah ( Sanjay Dutt, Nandita Das, Jackie Shroff, Om Puri, Anupama Verma), Jodi No: 1 ( Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Twinkle Khanna), Kurukshetra ( Sanjay Dutt, Mahima Chaudhary), Mission Kashmir ( Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Preity Zinta), Haseena Maan Jayegi ( Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Karisma Kapoor, Pooja Batra, Kader Khan, Anupam Kher), Khoobsurat ( Urmila Matondkar, Sanjay Dutt, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Om Puri), Chal Mere Bhai ( Karisma Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan), Vaastav ( Sanjay Dutt, Namrata Shirodkar, Mohnish Behl), Kartoos ( Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala, Gulshan Grover).

Sohail Khan

2009-02-19T02:54:00.000-08:00

Sohail Khan

Personal Profile (Personal Biography)
Eye Color: Black
Hair Color: Black
Birth Place: India
Religion: Muslim
Marital Status: Married
Languages: Hindi, English

Family Background
Mother's Name: Salma Khan
Brother(s): Arbaaz Khan, Salman Khan
Sister(s): Alvira Khan, Arpita Khan
Spouse: Seema Sachdev
Son: Irfaan Khan

Film Background (Filmography)
Debut Film: Maine Dil Tujhko Diya
Famous Movies: Fight Club, Aryan, Jeet: Feel the Force, Mazhab: The Religion, Raakh, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, Krishna Cottage, I Proud to Be an Indian, Lakeer Forbidden Lines, Darna Mana Hai, Maine Dil Tujhko Diya

Johnny Lever

2009-02-19T02:53:00.000-08:00

Personal Profile (Personal Biography)
Original Name: Johnny Rao
Nick Name: Lallu
Eye Color: Black
Hair Color: Black
Birth Place: Andhrapradesh
Religion: Christian
Education: Andhra Educational Society
Marital Status: Married
Languages: Hindi, English
Contact Address: R 303 Marvel, Shashtri Nagar Hsg. Soc., Near Lokhandawala Complex, Andheri (W), Mumbai 400 053

Family Background
Spouse: Sujata

Aamir Khan : Biography

2009-02-19T02:50:00.000-08:00

One film at a time, one shift a day, he decided for creative integrity. He is the highest paid star in hindi cinema. The flip side is that he won't reduce his price for anyone. Despite his bulging pay packet and superstar status the tag we put on him is Actor. Aamir Hussain Khan, the PET-SHOP boy of the bollywood, was born on 14th March 1965 to Tahir and Zeena Hussain Khan. He is having one younger brother Faizal who is a VJ and an Actor and two sisters Nikhat and Farhad. He was married to Reena Dutt and having two children son Junaid and daughter Aira. But in 2002 he was legally separated with his wife. Aamir Khan, is known as AK everywhere, although his first movie was Holi, but his debut film as a Hero Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak turned out to be a blockbuster of 1988 and set a new trend in cinema. In 1996, he has got the Best Actor award for his outstanding performance in Raja Hindustani which was a smash hit at the box office and he has placed himself among the top heroes of the Bollywood. Sarfarosh and Dil Chahat Hai were again the blockbuster films. He has got the best actor award for Dil Chahata Hai. This movie created a new trend of hairstyle and beard for youngster. He set trends with every film, including his last film Lagaan His next release will be The Rising in which his character name is Mangal Pandey.

Aamir Khan: Movies

Rang De Basanti ( Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddartha), The Rising ( Aamir Khan, Toby Stephens, Amisha Patel, Rani Mukherjee, Coral Beed), Dil Chahta Hai ( Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Dimple Kapadia, Sonali Kulkarni), Lagaan ( Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley), Rangeela ( Urmila Matondkar, Aamir Khan, Jackie Shroff), Dil ( Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Anupam Kher), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak ( Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla), Raja Hindustani ( Aamir Khan, Karisma Kapoor), Mann ( Aamir Khan, Manisha Koirala, Sharmila Tagore, Deepti Bhatnagar), 1947: Earth ( Aamir Khan, Nandita Das, Rahul Khanna, Maia Sethna, Kitu Gidwani, Gulshan Grover), Mela ( Aamir Khan, Faisal Khan, Twinkle Khanna), Sarfarosh ( Aamir Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Sonali Bendre, Mukesh Rishi).

Aamir Khan Photo Gallery

Aamir Khan

Bollywood star Shah Rukh in hospital for operation

2009-02-19T02:49:00.001-08:00

2 days ago

MUMBAI (AFP) — Indian Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was admitted to hospital in Mumbai on Monday for an operation on his shoulder, which he injured during filming last year, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The 43-year-old actor -- popularly known as King Khan -- was hurt while acting in the movie "Dulha Mil Gaya" (I Found my Groom), in December.

"Shah Rukh is set to undergo surgery later today," a spokeswoman for the Breach Candy hospital told AFP.

The star is expected to be discharged by the end of the week, but could be out of action for more than a month.

Shah Rukh flew back from London on Sunday night after promoting his latest film "Billu."

TAhaan

2009-02-18T09:44:00.001-08:00

Summary:
'Tahaan' - is a fable-like journey of the eponymous eight-year-old boy, whose life revolves around the pursuit to find real purpose in his little world.

Tahaan (Purav Bhandara) lives with his grandfather (Victor Banerjee), his mother Haba (Sarika) and older sister Zoya (Sana Shaikh,) in the serene meadows of Kashmir. They all live in the hope that someday Tahaan's father, who's been missing for over three years, will return................

Star Cast
Purav Bhandare...... Tahaan
Rahul Bose...... Zafar
Anupam Kher...... Subhan
Sarika...... Haba
Victor Banerjee...... Grandfather
Rahul Khanna...... Kuka Saab
Sana Shaikh...... Zoya
Ankush Dubey...... Idrees
Dheirya Sonecha...... Yasin
Rasika Duggal

42 Kms Music Review

2009-02-18T09:42:00.001-08:00

Seems like Harman Baweja's Victory may not be the only sporting movie this season as another not-so-talked about film will not be far behind. 42 Kms, releasing on the 23rd January this year, is going to tackle the journeys of five different individuals who themselves will be tackling a 42 km run. The movie stars Mandira Bedi (Shaadi Ka Ladoo, Dus Kahaniya, Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayenge), Sammer Dattani (Corporate and Pyar Mein Twist), Bikram Saluja (Fiza), Purab Kohli (Rock On!!), Nauheed Cyrusi (Lakeer) and debutante Prashant Chainani. In the director's chair is debutante Nisha Chainani while music and lyrics have been given by Tubby-Parik and Shahab Allahabadi respectively.

The album has six songs with Gayatri Ganjawala, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Roop Kumar Rathod, Shreya Ghosal and Sonu Nigam making the playback singers list.

The album commences with the inspirational Chaand Zameen Par sung by the extremely talented KK whose vocals do not fall short of the emotions and expressions that is crucial to a motivational song such as this. The music is relatively modern and trendy as it has shades of rock and rap through-out. Fortunately, the rapper does not blabber on gibberish, a well deserved breather for all the listeners out there. Allahabadi's lyrics are slightly clichéd and lack the power the song needs. However, the lyrics are saved by KK's intense rendition which invokes strong emotion in every word.

Next is Zara Aankhon Mein by Sonu Nigam and Gayatri Ganjawala. Sonu is heard in a different avatar after a long time. Hip and trendy numbers like this have not come Sonu's way for a while as he has been relegated to romantic and melancholy numbers. 'Zara Aankhon Mein' will definitely get Sonu fans a tad bit nostalgic as we'll reminiscent the 90s and Sonu's Indipop days when every Sonu number was packed with a punch. Gayatri Ganjawala can give her husband, Kunal, a run for his money because she is right up there with him when it comes to oozing oomph and attitude into a song. Tubby and Park score bonus points with pulling off such a trendy number with utmost ease. Allahabadi's lyrics are strictly okay. Once again, the English lyrics interspersed throughout the song do not act as a hindrance or a turn-off. 'Zara Aankhon Mein' also appears as pumped up remix at the end of the album.

After the two up-beat numbers, the album cools down with the melodious Ae Meri Jaan. Like 'Chand Zameen Par' it is also an inspirational number, however it aims to cheer you up in a sweet and affectionate manner. Roopkumar Rathod, who has been winning hearts all over with the recent blockbuster 'Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai', sings this beautiful number with the talented Mahalaxmi Iyer. Rathod and Iyer sound great together and the sincerity in their vocals is amazing. The soft number is well composed by Tubby and Parik with a nice blend of western and traditional music. Lyrics by Allahabadi while simple prove to be effective.

The next track, Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan's Tumse Milke Hua, is a definite let down. The song is a mediocre, musically and lyrically. Allahabadi pens the same old romantic lines that Bollywood has been generating since the dawn of time. Tubby-Parik compose a routine romantic number with a sweet melody, a little peppiness and crooning backup singers. Sunidhi Chauhan, who is incapable of singing a bad song, is the high point of the song. Her partner Shaan, on the other hand, sounds a tad bit pretentious.

The last track other album is Aate Jaate, a desi number rendered by the reliable Udit Narayan and Shreya Ghosal. Again, the music is very run-of-the-mill, especially the percussion. The silver lining of the track is its lyrics, well penned by Allahabadi. The song narrates a person's relationship with their surrounding regardless of how vague it sounds, and Allahabadi's choice of words is brilliant. Udit and Shreya work hard at resuscitating the lifeless melody Tubby-Parik provided them with but sadly fail.

In summary, Tubby and Parik make a genuine effort to be innovative and creative but their success only lasts for the first three tracks and everything goes down the drain after that. The fact the 42 Kms has not been in the public eye may also hinder the album's chances. 'Zara Aankhon Mein' is without a doubt the strongest track of the lot. The other tracks are relatively good but they ultimately sound like something you have heard before. That is why 42 Kms does not make it to the finish line.

Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye Music Review

2009-02-18T09:41:00.002-08:00

When Kajol danced around to the lyrics 'mere khawbon mein jo aaye' in the all time favourite Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayenge, the song became an instantaneous hit. Now its namesake, a movie tilted Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, is up for release in Febuary 2009. This Randeep Hooda (Monsoon Wedding) and Raima Sen (Parineeta) starrer has music by Lalit Pandit, of Jatin-Lalit fame. This musical duo ruled the 90s and gave us hits such as Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Khamoshi, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and finally Faana after which the brothers ended their professional relationship.

Now, let's see if Lalit can create the same magic he did countless times before with Jatin.

Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye album includes 8 songs comprising of the talents of Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Alka Yagnik, Anuska Manchanda and Lalit himself. The lyrics have been penned by Javed Akhtar.

The album commences with Pathron Ke Bane In Shahron sung by Shaan. It is a somewhat situational number about the harshness of the city life, well written by Akhtar. However, the melody and the music is very old-school and not in a good way. It is as if the song was an outtake from a 90s album and re-surfaced from a time-capsule in 2009. Nevertheless, Shaan sings the number exceptionally well and does not disappoint his fan-base.

Next is Pehle To Meri In Aankhon Mein sung by Shreya Ghosal. The track gets off to a promising start with a beautiful yet edgy flute solo and violins but falls flat when Shreya starts singing. It is an enthusiastic song, relatively fast paced, even danceable but Shreya does not look the part or rather, does not sound the part. The song would have been better performed by someone like Sunidhi Chauhan or Anushka Manchanda who are much more suited to a song such as this. Musically, the track is still stuck in the 90s to an extent. That being said, the musical arrangements are still entertaining. Lalit's fusion of dhols and flutes against a modern backdrop is worthy of commendation. Meanwhile, Akhtar pens quite mediocre lines for this track, letting us down the song in the lyrical department.

Sehmi Sehmi is next, a melodious romantic number sung by Shaan, Alka Yagnik, Lalit, Runa Rizvi and Clinton Cerejo. It is a well made track with excellent performance by the singers with relatively good music as well. However, the song sounds like something who have heard countless times before. It contains nothing to distinguish it from the crowd and hence the song gets lost with all the other riffraff out there. It is quite a delight to hear Alka Yagnik though. Jatin-Lalit had always given her excellent material and she had always performed to an optimal level. This time round she does the same even though the song is so run-of-the-mill. Akhtar's same old lyrics do not help either. 'Sehmi Sehmi' also appears as remix at the end of the album that neither improves nor hinders the original track.

As mentioned previously, Anushka Manchanda is one of the it-girls when it comes to singing lively and youthful numbers. She has proven this with 'Ek Hockey Doongi Main Rakh Ke' and obviously the award-winning 'Everything's Gonna Be Golmaal'. Lalit made the right choice putting her behind the mic for Kabhi Kabhi. It is a contemporary number about sometimes living life on the edge and taking risks for a change. The track's low point is that Anushka's enthusiastic vocals are no match for music which lacks the power and life that Anushka's vocals have. While the lyrics paint a lively picture, the music fails to meet the songs motivational requirements.

Kab Talak is easily the worst of the lot. What was supposed to be an emotional number high on melancholy falls flat on its face. Caralisa's expressionless vocals combined with the equally soulless music writes this track off completely. Rohit Bhatia, if he has a day job, is advised not to give it up in favour of pursuing a career in writing songs.

Next is Zindagi Mein Nayi Baat Hone Ko Hai, a track straight out of the 90s. Lalit opts for the clichéd dhols for percussion and makes a pithy attempt to be modern by throwing a little bit of techno in. Regardless of being stuck in a time warp, Aishwarya manages to deliver a good performance. Hopefully, he gets a better gig soon. Akhtar disappoints majorly in the lyrical department once more.

The album draws to a close with an Instrumental which just a reproduction of the low quality music heard previously.

This album is utterly useless to the music bazaar, unless amidst all the mediocrity you can hear it saying 'the 90s just called and they want their songs back'. It is unbelievable that someone who gave Indian Cinema some of its greatest songs could create something so dreadful. When it comes to Jatin-Lalit, there are no truer words than: United we stand, divided we fall.

The music of Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye is a total failure. If you loved the 90s than maybe this album holds some appeal for you, but for the rest of you who like living in the present, give this one a miss.

Chandni Chowk To China Movie Review

2009-02-18T09:41:00.001-08:00

India and China are basically “brothers from another mother.” What divides both countries is a mere kachche daage or border as we know it. Otherwise, they both share many similarities. For starters, it was only decades ago when both were considered a part of the “sleeping lions” which have now awoken only now to be seen as future superpowers. The two each have a monumental Wonder of the World: The Taj Mahal in Agra and The Great Wall of China which stretches over 4,000 miles of the vast country of China. So when Bollywood decided to take its chance and combine both cultures to create a fusion mix in the form of Chandni Chowk To China, audiences expected Hakka Noodles! So, did the movie deliver a treat to the senses or did it fall short?

Chandni Chowk To China or CC2C, which is the acronym it has lovingly been bestowed with, starts off in the tangling galli’s of Delhi and ends on the The Great Wall of China. Siddhu (Akshay Kumar) is a lazy assistant cook for his Dada’s (Mithun Chakraborty) roadside eatery. One lethargic day, he is told, by two random Chinese strangers, who could really be tourists, that he is the reincarnation of the ancient warrior Lui Sheng. Constantly looking for an adventure and the easy way out in life, Siddhu jumps at the chance to jump the border. However, when he realizes that he has actually been bought back to the small village in China to protect the villagers from the evil doings of the in-house villain Hojo, he finally realizes the “noodle” he’s gotten himself into. In the process, his big brother is killed and Sidhu sees red with revenge. During his journey to China, he meets with Sakhi (Deepika Padukone) who is also headed in the same direction as she is in search of her twin sister Meow-Meow (Deepika again).

CC2C is made up completely of over the top acting and a crazy flawed plot. Nikhil Advani goes off the deep end with this one where one cannot help but question his credibility as a director. It seems almost unfathomable that a director of his caliber would direct a movie where a Delhiwala is taken off the streets, zipped off to China, made an overnight superhero and fights his girlfriend’s twin sister, who was thrown off The Great Wall, caught by the villain and trained to be a villainess. Would someone please remind Mr. Advani that the audiences are not looking for crude and harebrained humor anymore! Content is what drives any successful movie nowadays and CC2C lacks not only content but any signs of sanity, reality or sensibility.

Akshay Kumar in the lead role has tried to pull another Singh Is Kinng with this one. Admittedly, he is the only reason to watch the flick, and he is in his element with the Kung Fu chops and Martial Arts moves. However, that said, his exaggerated acting is getting really boring and repetitive. It would be nice to see King Kumar in a more intelligent role for a change and perhaps change his comical image. Deepika Padukone in her double role avatar is simply average in her debut action film. Ranvir Shorey is okay as is Mithun Chakraborty. The Chinese cast, Gordon Liu and Roger Yuan, definitely showcase their talents in the martial arts sections.

The writer of the film, Shridhar Raghavan, should be sacked effective immediately. With such a weak film that is not funny, the movie does not and will not commercially entertain audiences at all. The music has been deemed mediocre and the choreography is just about the same.

It is a sad day in Indian cinema when internationally acclaimed production house Warner Brothers decides to put in its hand in Bollywood and the outcome is something as baseless and shameful as Chandni Chowk To China. Advani has let himself and to some degree Indian cinema down. Good comedy movies have been made in the past and worked at the box office, managing to bag lots of moolah and additionally being critically accepted. CC2C does not seem like it will do any of the two.

Quite simply put, the movie is nothing short of bad Chinese food. On normal occasions, we would recommend audiences to “leave their brain at home” when watching such a nonsensical movie. However, in the case of CC2C, you are better off leaving yourself out of the cinema hall too! If you really feel the need to get a taste of the Chinese culture, head out for some good old fashioned Dim Sum where you’ll get what you paid for!

Ghajini Movie Review

2009-02-18T09:38:00.002-08:00

If there is any actor that you can almost always depend on to deliver a solid film, it's Aamir Khan. Perhaps it's the way he meticulously chooses his scripts or the fact that he re-invents himself as an actor with every release—but an Aamir Khan film is always one that any filmy fan awaits with bated breath. In fact, if you really put it in perspective, you're not shocked that Ghajini is a good film. Why? Because by this stage of the game, you've come to expect such quality from an actor who clearly pours his heart and soul into everything he does.

Before venturing into this film, I made sure to watch Christopher Nolan's Memento with great detail so that I would be able to determine exactly how "inspired" Ghajini is by this great Hollywood film. I can safely say that besides using the basic plot of a man suffering from anterograde amnesia and driven by revenge, Ghajini takes a road less travelled and is in fact quite a different film. In fact, it's hardly Memento at all, which is a great relief to someone like me who sternly looks down upon Hollywood remakes.

The film's narrative unfolds in flashbacks. As we meet Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan), his bulging eyes and introverted nature introduce us to a man with intense anger waiting to be unleashed. He is plagued by a condition known as anterograde amnesia, which only allows him to store new memories for an extremely short amount of time. Despite his condition, he has manages to come up with a system that allows him to continue functioning efficiently, with an ultimate goal in mind. We quickly realize that he is a dangerous killer who is slowly combing through a hit list in order to get to one man—Ghajini. Several instances take us into his past and show us that this inexplicable rage is driven by a lost love, Kalpana (Asin), whose death must be avenged.

While it's obvious that the plot has been taken straight from Memento, almost all of the proceedings as well as the narrative technique are completely different. Director A.R. Murugadoss, who also directed the Tamil version of the film, has chosen to make most details quite clear to the viewer rather than let them figure things out for themselves. He has also given great scope to Sanjay's past, giving us ample opportunity to realize the motive behind Sanjay's goal of avenging his dead lover's brutal death. This, in fact, is one of the film's greatest strengths although it does get tedious in the first half. The viewer becomes to intimately drawn to Sanjay and Kalpana's love story that when it is shattered, we along with Sanjay feel angry. Thus, we are able to empathize with him and despite the fact that he goes to violent lengths to seek revenge; you root for him until the credits roll.

Initially the film seems to start off on shaky ground with some scenes seeming choppy and almost amateur, but the film gets better and better as the minutes pass by. By the thrilling climax, you are left sunken in your chair, breathless. When a film makes your heart pound like Ghajini does, you know it has something going for it. Even with a running time of three hours, you hardly feel like there is room for any editing besides the useless yet catchy songs. If anything, it's A.R. Rahman's peppy tracks that get in the way by failing to aid the story in any way. While the background music is at times very amateur, the cinematography is excellent.

The film itself is very creative, and the way it unfolds is unusual for a Bollywood film which usually has a straightforward narrative style. The flashbacks allow the viewer to reel from the intense scenes that take place in the present tense. If the first half of the film allows you to sit back and enjoy, the second half makes you sit up and take notice. Take notice of Aamir's brilliant performance, Murugadoss' great vision and a Hindi film that finally thrills you like any great entertainer should.

At this age, Aamir Khan has achieved what hardly any of his contemporaries have managed to do. He has struck the perfect balance between being one of the biggest superstars of the country and still managing to maintain the right to call himself an actor in every sense of the word. His passion for his work is so incredibly clear in Ghajini that you almost have to wonder whether this is the same person that starred in Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan or Rang De Basanti. I can't quite call this the best performance of his career because I know for a fact that he will out-do himself time and time again. He's right when he says he's his own competition.

Asin makes a strong debut in the Hindi film industry. Just like the film, she starts off a bit uneasy but later grows on you. It's in the dramatic portions that she shines. What's great about her is that even if she isn't always extraordinary, she's charming and is a refreshing change from many of our size-zero heroines. The lead pair's chemistry is great too! As a student who gets involved with the wrong people, Jiah Khan is confident and proves that Nishabd was no fluke. This analysis would be incomplete without mentioning Ghajini himself, played by Pradeep Rawat, who makes you hate him every second of the film. That's a compliment, by the way.

Despite its flaws of a few holes here and there, Ghajini works because of its great themes that are consistent throughout the film. Although the film centres around vengeance, at its core is a passionate love story gone wrong. Also, it seems vital to mention the excellent action scenes that look believable for the most part and would satisfy any action fan. We haven't really had a great action flick in a while, so while the film may be part-drama, part-romance and part-action, you can safely say that it doesn't falter in any department. Clearly, this is a masala flick that the public will absolutely love.

When you walk out of Ghajini, you feel completely satisfied as an average movie-goer. At the end of the day, that's what we all are. Whether we are critics or simply someone who goes to see a film for a night out, we all go for the purpose to be entertained by a film that doesn't question our intelligence and managed to keep us glued for a good two or three hours. Ghajini does exactly that, and to top it off you bear witness to an astounding performance by Aamir Khan, who has raised his own bar this time around. You better get into Ghajini mode because there's definitely no stopping this one.

Bollywood Review: Tashan

2009-02-18T09:38:00.001-08:00

Few films from the Bollywood system have arrived this year with as much advance hype as Tashan. Its director, Vijay Krishna Acharya, makes his debut here after writing the scripts for the mega-successful Dhoom franchise. Its headline cast is pretty stellar, starting with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor (reteaming here after a stellar showing in Omkara), and rounded out by Akshay Kumar (the man who is Khiladi) and Anil Kapoor (Bollywood’s resilient, jowly ham). The all-important songs are by the venerable Vishal-Shekhar team. The promotion is everywhere, though cleverly it has mostly focused on the soundtrack. Actual footage of the film has been scarce prior to release. There’s a certain swagger to this tactic, a confidence borne out by a recent interview with Khan, in which he called it “similar to the way Led Zeppelin released their fourth album.” The recently beleaguered Yash Raj production house, and the Indian press, saw this as the surest thing for miles.

No such luck. The critics have been less than kind, but popular opinion has been positively venomous. Comments on IMDB have ranged from the disappointed to the utterly murderous (a kind sample: “Tashan sucks from top to bottom”), and a poll on Planet Bollywood has 60% responding unfavorably. But what of the receipts? Bad news there as well. On a cost of 40 crores, the film has thus far failed to recoup even half. In short: a trainwreck on every level.

Here’s the dirty secret, though: Tashan is, though flawed, hugely enjoyable. Imagine if Tony Scott cleaned up his editing act and decided to make a musical. Tashan would be the result. That’s actually a recommendation.

More after the break.

The story is thus: The improbably named Jimmy Cliff (Khan) is hired to teach English to vulgar mob don Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor) by his beautiful assistant, Pooja (the less jowly Kapoor). She quickly ropes Jimmy into a scheme to steal from her boss, but leaves him in the lurch after disappearing with the cash. Bhaiyyaji, furious, sends Jimmy to capture Pooja and the money with the supervision of village tough Bachchan Pandey (Kumar). It’s a pretty straight neo-noir road movie for the first half, and much more streamlined than the usual masala picture, though this comes with a price. While the plot motors along at a pleasing rattle, one of the prime pleasures of a Bollywood blockbuster is slightly undercut: the film is frontloaded with item songs, and they’re actually a little bit underwhelming. The first clutch of numbers are melodically DOA and staged with an alarming lack of imagination. While the unnecessary nature of many Bollywood songs can be part of their charm, here they stop the film dead in its tracks. It’s all the more baffling since Acharaya elsewhere displays a knack for glib, funny dialogue, expansive widescreen compositions and snappy editing. His pacing problems keep the pre-interval section of Tashan from being totally effective.

To give credit where it’s due, the actors are consistently involving. Khan makes a terrific, weaselly lady’s man, and Kareena Kapoor is frankly delectable in the femme fatale role. Anil Kapoor, meanwhile, gives a performance of such towering nuttiness that he all but steals the film from them. His Bhayyaji is an utter monster, a thuggish, self-important dandy with a cricket fixation. Every word out of his mouth seems to be coated in caramel-sweet evil. There’s a fine line between menace and self-parody, and Kapoor tapdances along it with glee. The film’s stealth weapon, however, is Akshay Kumar. Bachchan Pandey, the dim, aspirational goon, is a classic stock character, but Kumar invests him with a lot of warmth and dry humor. It’s the only turn in the film that could be described as understated, and it’s a total charmer.

These performers have a lot of room to breath in the second half, which comes as a relief. There, the film sheds most of its Western influence for a more familiar Bollywood recipe: genre mix-n-match, strange character detail, and the kind of digressive storytelling that enrages McKee acolytes but is heavenly for Bolly afficienados. Acharya finally brings in the artillery, staging two apocalyptic shoot-outs with maximum flair. Romance also rears its head very amusingly, and the songs finally step up. It becomes, in short, a proper masala actioner.

The film’s richest thematic seam is the tension between Westernized India and a more regional mentality, embodied most obviously in the conflict between the slick, English-speaking Jimmy and the impulsive, true-hearted Bachchan. In fact, it’s everywhere, from the film’s sarcastic praise of George W. Bush to a finale that hinges on Jimmy’s loyalty to his motherland. There’s even an argument to be made that the film itself rests on that divide; when it’s most Americanized, the film plods, but when truest to its cultural roots, it entertains with gusto. The split is, finally, addressed and resolved with a song in the film’s best and brightest sequence, “Dil Dance Maare”. For no very good reason, Jimmy, Pooja and Bachchan find themselves stowing away with an American film crew, on location shooting an Oscar-bait melodrama named Holy Widows. At gunpoint, they tell the director that he will be putting a song into his film. When the director protests that the film has no songs, Jimmy sums up the whole film and probably the whole industry.

Abhijeet Sawant’s Lottery

2009-02-18T09:17:00.001-08:00

Abhijeet Sawant, who was known by the nation post Indian Idol, will now surprise the nation, with his acting skills. The vocal star is now all set to make his debut with a movie named “lottery”. The movie is to be directed by Hemant Prabhu, and Abhijeet, has quite a lot of expectations from the flick. The young lad says,

“The movie is not at all a romantic flick. It is in total contradiction with what audiences must be expecting from me. It is basically a thriller.”

Well, until the movie is released, we can only wonder if Abhijeet has got luck like Himesh to make it big in bollywood.

Bebo To Start A School For Handicap Kids!

2009-02-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Kareena Kapoor has many plans for her future. Apart from collecting a showcase full of awards, she wishes to start a yoga school for underprivileged and handicapped children.

Apparently, sister Karisma Kapoor also plans to join in with Bebo. When asked about the same, Kareena gave a reluctant reply –

“I am uncomfortable talking about such things. I feel it’s best to talk when the time is right and they happen. Lolo and I have plans some of building a school for underprivileged and handicapped children. We have such schools all over but we need to have specially equipped ones with people fully qualified to take care of the children and their special needs. It’s been a dream for both of us to have such a school but these are plans which will take shape much later — all in good time.”

Hiten Gauri Out of Nach Baliye 2- A Gloomy Farewell

2009-02-18T09:14:00.002-08:00

“Dil Ding Dong Ding Bole”…of course Gauri and Hiten danced for the song but when the results came the audience were dancing and singing the song. Gauri- Hiten managed to come till the quarters because of their huge popularity but I swear it was unbearable to see then dance! Kya pakate the boss!But Hiten made it sure that he gets some clap for his words at the end. I sure like the jodi for the dramas they are popular for.

As the competition gets groovy, one couple stands above all the other performers Hussain and Tina…I seriously believe Nach Baliye 2 is now a cakewalk for them. Harshal Vitthal rocked the stage with their shadow dance on Humdum Soniyoo re and were awarded the trophy for best choreographers…Masterji also presented them a silver chain with a whistle:-)

Tanaaz and Bakhtiar out of Nach Baliye 2 semi finals

2009-02-18T09:14:00.001-08:00

“We are a very fun-loving and emotional couple. These are two most essential ingredients of a competition like this” was what Tanaaz had mentioned at the start of Nach Baliye 2 competition. And sure enough they were eligible to rule the roost with their fantastic performances. But as last year, Nach Baliye 2 also shocked everyone as Tanaaz and Bakhtiar were ousted from the semi finals. Now, Hussain and Tina will clash with Yash and Gouri in the finals of the dance competition.

Tanaaz and Bakhtiar fell short of public votes and therefore had to leave the competition, but undoubtedly they deserved more than this. When the results were declared, Bakhtyaar went numb with shock while Tanaaz broke down. When contacted, the couple was not willing to speak. While Bakhtyaar refused to comment, Tanaaz responded by saying, “We have no clue why and how it happened. But it happened due to the public votes.” This episode, shot on Wednesday evening at Film City, will air on Monday. The final episode is slated for December 18.

SRK discharged today

2009-02-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan recently underwent a shoulder surgery at the Breach Candy Hospital and has been discharged today.

Dr Sanjay Desai, shoulder specialist who headed the surgery says, “He resumed his normal diet and had a sound sleep. We have permitted him to go home.”

SRK left the hospital with a smile on his face and his hand in a sling, he waved to his fans and media waiting eagerly for his glimpse outside the hospital.

It will take almost four to six weeks for SRK to switch back to his action mode.

Sallu’s Veer in trouble

2009-02-18T08:39:00.001-08:00

Salman Khan starrer multi big budget flick Veer is in trouble as their location for flick Amber fort is causing problems for the whole flick.

A few days before the wall of the historical fort collapsed resulting in few people being injured, which made the Rajasthan High Court to intervene into the matters and stop the shooting. Now rumors are abuzz that the film unit and Fort workers brought animals into the fort and even drove some wooden blocks into the walls of the fort which is strictly against the regulations of the fort.

However a unit member says, , “I’m surprised to see the reports. While erecting the sets, we have left an inch’s distance from the historical structure, and wherever touching the heritage building is unavoidable, we have used carpets to make sure that the fort doesn’t get damaged. The work is going on under the supervision of the engineers and the experts of the Amber Development Authority. While shooting at heritage spots, we also offer the services of our carpenters and other workers to lend a hand in repairs.”

Well we hope no more problems and troubles come in our Sallu’s and Veer’s way!!

Bollywood Celebden Redcarpet Award Goes To…

2009-02-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

We’ve zeroed in on ladies who looked their best at the event for the Bollywood Celebden Redcarpet Award. Who would you vote for? Any favorites?

Deepika More Beautiful Than Angelina Jolie?

2009-02-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

Deepika is more beautiful than Angelina Jolie… thats what Rob Cohen believes. Rob Cohen is the Hollywood director who directed films like The Witches of Eastwick and The Fast and the Furious.

After Danny Boyle’s success in India with Slumdog Millionaire, Cohen wants to make a film in India called the Jewel of India. A source reports, “The film will be made worldwide in Hollywood, Dubai and Bollywood and the plot revolves around the Kohinoor diamond, the magnificent jewel that may have been discovered in India as long as five thousand years ago and which now forms the centerpiece of the British Crown Jewels – or does it? The movie’s script begins with the tantalising suggestion the jewel that sits in the Tower of London is in fact a fake.”

The source adds, “In India last week, Rob spoke to potential cast members Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham on the male side – and on the female side, he also spoke to Katrina Kaif. But it appears to have been Deepika Padukone who has caught his attention even though he has yet to meet her.”

“I love Deepika Padukone!,” he exclaims, “I think one of the characters may be a dancer and we may find her in a club or something, which would incorporate some Bollywood dance sequences. I saw her in Chandni Chowk to China and I thought she was, in both characters, perfect. She’s gorgeous! I think she is more beautiful than Angelina Jolie,” Cohen is quoted saying.

The source also reports that the lead role has been discussed in principle with John Abraham.

“Though John has agreed in principle, to be part of the cast, the other details are still being worked out,” says a source, “The film is being made on a whopping 300 crores budget and will also have stars from Hollywood,” the source adds.

For Abhi Most Beautiful Woman On Earth, Not Ash!

2009-02-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

Abhishek Bachchan is supposedly married to the woman considered the most beautiful woman in the world. However its not what Abhishek thinks. His idea of beauty is what is epitomised by someone much older than he. Yes he thinks Waheeda Rehman is the most beautiful woman on the Earth.

“I’ve worked with Waheeda aunty before in Om Jai Jagdish. It was a sheer honour to work with her again. She is the most dignified and beautiful lady on Earth.

She’s such a wonderful person to be on the sets with. She has this aura about her which lights up everyone’s life and I can’t be more privileged that I have already done two films with her.

Actors go through their entire career not having an opportunity to work with her because she doesn’t do lot of work. I was very excited that she had agreed to do Delhi 6.”

Delhi 6 releases on 20th Feb.. till then get a sneak peak preview of Delhi 6 on

No heavy-duty work for King Khan for a few months

2009-02-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

By Joginder Tuteja

Mumbai, Feb 17 (IANS) No heavy-duty action scenes for Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for the next six months, say doctors who successfully operated upon him for a nagging pain in the left shoulder.

"Shah Rukh's surgery went off fine and he should be back home in two days. However, he will require some good rest for a long period and he has been advised not to do any strenuous work," said Sanjay Desai, orthopaedic surgeon at Breach Candy Hospital here.

So, in effect Shah Rukh will be on a forced break for six weeks to fully recuperate. However, he will host the Filmfare awards on March 7, which were scheduled for Feb 28 earlier. The organisers postponed the date for Shah Rukh's sake.

He can take up heavy-duty action scenes only after six months.

"It's a normal precaution that one has to take. The surgery was long pending and it is good that he finally took out time for it. Keeping in mind that he would only become busier in months to come, it made sense that he got himself operated before it was too late," Desai said.

King Khan underwent an arthroscopic surgery for a nagging pain in his left shoulder Monday. His family, friends and fans heaved a sigh of relief when it was announced that the surgery, which lasted 45 minutes, had been successful. A team of three doctors performed the surgery.

The last few months have been especially tiring for Shah Rukh as he was working non-stop on the promotion of "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi", shooting for "My Name Is Khan" and then promoting "Billu". In fact, he went on an overdrive for the promotion of "Billu" and was attending as many as eight events a day. He had injured his shoulder a long time ago, but the pain aggravated in December last year.

Farah Khan, who was by his side in the hospital till late Monday evening, told IANS: "He went to sleep after the surgery. He was in too much of pain."

Mushtaq Sheikh, Shah Rukh's close friend and also the writer of just released "Billu", is also relieved.

"The surgery was successful. Allah has been kind. We are now waiting for his complete recovery," he said.

Being the professional that he is, Shah Rukh made sure his producers would not suffer because of his surgery and forced break.

Currently, Shah Rukh has only two films on the floors - Karan Johar's "My Name Is Khan" and Viveck Vaswani's "Dulha Mil Gaya".

While he has already finished shooting for an extensive part of "My Name Is Khan", in "Dulha Mil Gaya" he has an extended guest appearance for which only a qawwali featuring him with Sushmita Sen remains to be shot.

"He will be back in a big way, just wait and watch," said Vishal Dadlani (of Vishal-Shekhar duo). "He has earned the goodwill of people, and one thing which is real in this world is that if people wish you well, you will get up sooner than you could ever imagine."

"Anyone who has ever worked with Shah Rukh will vouch for the fact that he is incomparable," Vishal said in an emotional tone. "He gives every individual respect and a lot of space as well. He is a phenomenal producer and a much-loved star of billions of people across the globe. He has everyone's good wishes."

Google Search Google Web bollywood.com Bollywood Community! Now make your own Bollywood fan groups, post videos, events, blogs, and participate i

2009-02-18T08:22:00.000-08:00

Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS) Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan have been bestowed with first FICCI-IIFA's 'Most Powerful Entertainers of the Decade' awards here.

The two were among the 10 stars who have been felicitated with the 'Most Powerful Entertainers of the decade' award at the ongoing annual FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)-Frames exposition on media and entertainment industry.

The awards came in contrast for Shah Rukh as he gave last year's IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) awards ceremony a miss. Rumours were rife that he skipped the awards courtesy a cold war with Amitabh, who is the brand ambassador for IIFA.

Joining the stars in the league have been eight other actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty.

Hollywood actor and leading social activist Danny Glover and Congressman John Lewis have been given the FICCI-USIBC (US-India Business Council) award.

Celebrating 10 years, IIFA and FICCI instituted "Most Powerful Entertainers of the Decade" award

Luck by Chance

2009-02-18T08:21:00.002-08:00

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Rishi Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Isha Sharwani, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Kapoor, Aly Khan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Music: Shankar, Eshaan & Loy
Producers: Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar
Director: Zoya Akhtar

Sona (Konkona) arrives in Bombay with dreams of becoming a film star. Wide eyed and ambitious, she does whatever it takes to make it. She lives on her own in a rented flat, spending her time with loyal friends whose lives are also entwined with Bollywood - each one of them in search of a bigger dream.

Vikram (Farhan) has just moved to the city, leaving the comforts of his parents' Delhi home. He is helped by Abhimanyu (Arjun Mathur), a friend working for a television station, who puts Vikram up during his initial struggle. Vikram is also used to getting what he wants and is smart enough to know when to demand it. Luck By Chance

Sona begins to enjoy Vikram's attention and affections. They soon develop a romantic relationship.

Rolly (Rishi kapoor) is a successful, though superstitious, producer who only works with the biggest stars. He's making a potential blockbuster, launching Nikki Khurana, the 18-year-old daughter of 70s superstar, Neena.

The hero of the film, Zaffar Khan (Hrithik) is Rolly's favourite superstar. He was launched by Rolly and went on to become a huge draw at the box office.

The wheels of fate continue to spin favourably for Vikram when havoc spreads on the sets of producer Rommy Rolly's new film. Vikram is called in for an audition and makes the most of his opportunity.

Whether he becomes a successful movie star or defeated in his desperate attempt, forms the crux of this colourful Hindi musical.

Veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor will be seen as a film producer, while Juhi Chawla plays his wife. Dimple Kapadia will also be seen in a pivotal role.

A galaxy of Bollywood stars are said to make a special appearance in a song sequence very similar to the one in Om Shanti Om. These include Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty.

Zoya Aktar makes her directorial debut with Luck By Chance, while her brother, Farhan Aktar plays the lead.

The movie is predicted to take the box office by storm. This is mainly due to its unusual storyline, the use of Farhan Akhtar in the lead and the presence of a galaxy of stars in a special song sequence.

Raaz - The Mystery Continues

2009-02-18T08:21:00.001-08:00

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Kangna Ranaut, Adhyayan Suman
Directed by: Mohit Suri

Currently in its post production stages, this supernatural thriller is directed by Mohit Suri of Awarapan and Woh Lamhe fame. The story explores the evil side of human nature.

Raaz The Mystery Continues is said to have been inspired by Indian myths and legends, focussing on the relationship between good and evil.

Kangana Ranaut once again plays a supermodel in this spooky thriller, alongside Emraan Hashmi and Adhyayan. Emraan is reported to have shed a few pounds to match the physique of his character.

Raaz - The Mystery Continues is not intended as a sequel to Bhatt's previous release, Raaz (meaning secret), which starred Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu in lead roles.

Released in 2002, Raaz turned out to be the second largest box office grosser after Devdas during that year.

Raaz actually spearheaded the birth of experimental cinema within Bollywood and made the world of the supernatural fair game for Indian film-makers. The movie was readily accepted by audiences craving more than the average family song and dance movie.

2008 saw the successful release of Phoonk and the thriller titled 1920, which both did well at the box office. This suggests that the horror genre could prove popular in 2009, making Raaz a good prospect

Siddharth - The Prisoner

2009-02-18T08:20:00.001-08:00

Just released from prison, Siddharth Roy (Rajat Kapoor), a once famous writer, completes a new manuscript.

He re-engages with the outside world, hoping that the new book will restore his reputation and also reconcile him with his estranged wife, Maya.

Fate has other plans for Roy, when his briefcase gets exchanged at a cyber café with a similar briefcase containing a large sum of money. Roy looses the only copy of his new manuscript, while Mohan, the cyber café manager, comes under pressure from mob bosses to recover the lost money.

In the midst of growing despair about the lost manuscript, Roy is reconciled with his three year old son through a scheming housemaid.

Unable to find happiness in the money he has found Roy begins to desire the custody of his son. Meanwhile the pressure mounts on Mohan as he looses his job and is forced to go into hiding from the mob. He must find Roy and money at any cost.

Based on the ancient text of the Rig Veda, the film explores the theme of renunciation (of desire) as the true path to enlightenment and freedom.

Teree Sang

2009-02-18T08:19:00.001-08:00

Maahi, (Sheena) the only child of the 'Puri' family is a sweet & bubbly 15 year old Delhi girl. She belongs to a prosperous family and has the best of material comforts and education.

While Kabir is a 17 year old typical teenager, - aspiring, arrogantly negligent, clueless and rebellious, unreasonably demanding, loving yet not romantic, suppressed yet self-assured. He comes from a family that's at the lower end of society yet beautifully bonded.

Like most youngsters Maahi and Kabir become friends. While Maahi loves the small town - suburban life style of Kabir's family, Kabir finds the urban, up market life style that Maahi is living exciting.

As the relationship grows, so does the intimacy. On a camping trip on New Year's Eve, after just getting a little tipsy - the young couple in all their innocence give in to their hormonal drives & Maahi gets pregnant.

What follows is a journey of accepting one's mistakes & owning up to it, a tale of courage & determination. It's a cry for help by those numerous Kidult couples that have & are facing such a dilemma in their lives at this very moment.

It's an attempt to bring to light an issue... teenage pregnancy... which is rampant & is growing exponentially in the current Indian society - modern & rural.

Billu Barber

2009-02-18T08:18:00.001-08:00

By Taran Adarsh

Rating: ***1/2

Priyadarshan is synonymous with ha-ha-thons, but the talented storyteller has been equally proficient while handling intense dramas like SAZA-E-KALA PANI, GARDISH and VIRASAT. Like VIRASAT and MALAMAAL WEEKLY, Billu, the accomplished director's new outing, is also set in a hamlet.

Although the story has been attempted in Malayalam (KADHA PARAYUMBOL) and Tamil (KUSELAN) earlier, the story actually takes its inspiration from the legendary friendship between Lord Krishna and Sudama. In this case, the story talks of the friendship between a superstar and an ordinary mortal who runs a salon.

Billu is a simple story about simple people, told in the most simplistic manner. There's a generous dose of glamour as well, given the fact that the protagonist's friend happens to be a superstar, but what actually works for the film is the simpleton's story. He wages a daily battle to make ends meet.

Although the film is engaging, Priyadarshan reserves the best for the finale this time, when the superstar reminisces about his childhood friend and the deep bond that they shared. The end is remarkable and is sure to strike a chord with all sections of moviegoers.

Final word? Billu is amongst Priyadarshan's finest works. And also Irrfan and SRK's. This tale of friendship is sure to steal your heart!

Billu tells the story of a simple ordinary man, Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irrfan Khan), living in a small town with his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and two kids. His life undergoes a drastic change as superstar Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) visits the village for a film shoot. Everything changes. Things go from good to bad to worse to good again.

Ten minutes into the film and you get absorbed into Billu's small world. The salon is in bad shape, the family is facing tough times, the neighbours and acquaintances are fair-weather friends... Billu's life gets grim with each passing day.

The story takes an interesting turn when Billu's life collides with the superstar's. And the assorted characters -- right from an aspiring poet/lyricist (Rajpal Yadav), to a stingy money lender (Om Puri), to the principal of the school (Rasika Joshi) -- everyone wants favours from Billu. These characters only make Billu more interesting.

SRK's track is equally fascinating and only spices up the proceedings. In fact, Priyadarshan has amalgamated the three songs (featuring SRK with Deepika, Priyanka and Kareena) in the narrative smartly. Not once do you feel that you're watching two stories concurrently.

The best part of the enterprise is its climax. The superstar recalls his humble beginning and how his friend stood by him in times of crisis. The writing is brilliant and SRK only takes the scene to greater heights with his terrific portrayal.

Priyadarshan is adept at handling relationships and with Billu, he proves he can handle emotions with as much flourish as comedy.

To tell a simple, uncomplicated story, without the usual frills, is an arduous task indeed and Priyadarshan tackles the material with remarkable ease. The humour here is subtle, not loud, and a constant smile remains on your face all through.

Mushtaq Shiekh and Priyadarshan's screenplay is foolproof. In fact, the writing never loses focus and the highs and the lows in Billu's life are sensitively penned by the duo. Manisha Korde's dialogues are simple, gelling with the mood of the film.

Pritam's music is energetic. The songs, promoted aggressively prior to the release, only get an impetus thanks to the presence of the three actresses.

'Mar Jaani' and 'Love Mera Hit Hit' are, of course, the pick of the lot. V. Manikandan's cinematography is top notch. The locales (Pollachi) are breath-taking.

In the recent years, Irrfan has emerged as a force to reckon with, his performances have appealed to all strata of moviegoers and his work in Billu will only cement his status as a remarkable actor. Shah Rukh Khan needs to be admired for two reasons.

The show belongs to Irrfan, although SRK could've forced himself in every scene.

Also, he has chosen to opt for a film that's not one of those run-of-the-mill types. In terms of performance, SRK shows his true potential towards the finale.

Lara Dutta springs a pleasant surprise. She goes through her part with complete understanding. Om Puri is excellent.

Rasika Joshi is too good. Rajpal Yadav is really funny in the penultimate scene, when he recites a film song of an SRK film. Asrani and Manoj Joshi are passable.

On the whole, Billu is a sweet-n-simple film that lingers in your memory even after the show has concluded.

The final 20 minutes are the highpoint of the enterprise and that elevates the status of the film to great heights. The film has the potential to grow with a strong word of mouth. Recommended... Take your family for this one!

I feel bad that I couldn't graduate from college: Sonam

2009-02-18T08:16:00.001-08:00

By Joginder Tuteja

Sonam Kapoor has become an actor today but she was quite inclined towards academics in her growing up years. In fact one wish that she still has is to become a college graduate. Reason? After Class XII, she discontinued her studies and started concentrating in films.

"I really wanted to study more, especially language", says Sonam who will soon be seen in 'Delhi 6' this weekend, "I have completed by Class XII and though English and Hindi were my favorite subjects, it's a pity that I couldn't pursue them further. I still feel bad that I haven't done my graduation."

Talking about her love for reading, she also shares an interesting fact about herself. She is not just fascinated with the English language but also loves studying subjects like History and Geography.

"That's true", confirms Sonam, "While I had a soft corner for languages, it wasn't possible for me to stay away from History and Geography for long.

I always enjoyed my stint with studies during school and for me reading was a lot of fun. What also helped me engage in studies was the fact that I didn't have to do the same things time and over again. I was constantly learning."

For the moment, it's her brother Harshvardhan Kapoor who is keeping her abreast about the finer techniques of cinema.

"He is currently studying screen writing and I keep calling him and understanding from him the new things that he is learning. Yes, I get to know some good things of screen writing from him but I would always carry the regret of not being able to study things myself. May be some other day, some other time", concludes Sonam.

Abhishek hardly has ten lines in Delhi 6: Rakeysh Mehra

2009-02-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

Does Delhi 6 capture the real essence of India?
Delhi 6 is a journey to discover this country. When I started this film, I didn't know why I was making it, but through this journey, I found out the reason for doing this.

You can say that Delhi 6 is about the people of our country, the place, the beliefs, the disbeliefs, their contrast in religion, how they live in harmony, how they live in conflict, the whole Hindu - Muslim thing, the caste system in our country, the marriages, the dowry, etc. and yet Delhi 6 works. Bureaucracy prevails but yet there is something great about it.

Rakeysh Mehra Why do you think such things are still prevalent?
This change has triggered with the turn of the century and I always wanted to know why such things are happening. It's a funny place, this country is.

Schools will have no books, if there are books, there are no teachers, if there are teachers, there are no exams, no results, if you pass out from your college, you won't get a job, you get married, find a house where there is tap but no water.

You are back where it all started from. How the hell does the country work. Along the line we discovered that it's the people. I didn't touch up on the writing process but as we were closing towards the final draft, we realized that there are too many problems which a common man himself brings up.

Was making Delhi 6 a tougher challenge than Rang De Basanti?
No questions about that. Yes, I was very nervous attempting Delhi 6. Cinematically, if Rang De was kinder garden then I am in first standard now. I can feel the growth.

I hope when I come out of this film (after a pause) and I don't know when I'll come out. Maybe couple of years down the line when I look at it again, it will all fall in place for me. As of now, there is no objectivity in making Delhi 6.

Will Delhi 6 weave the magic like what RDB did?
I don't know. There are no expectations. We haven't structured the film in a way that it'll walk the red carpet across the world. Though it'll be wonderful to get an international recognition and at the same time, our Indian recognition.

More importantly, if it can strike a chord with the audience, that'll be great. I have departed totally from Rang De. There is not a single thought process that'll echo.

Somewhere subconsciously, I'll be trying to tell the same story in a different way, even if try not to. Something or the other will seep into it. The story of Delhi 6 permitted me not to repeat myself.

Why is there a mirror on the audio CD cover of Delhi 6?
Is that giving away an important message? It does. The film tells us to look at yourself and so the mirror. The pre-climax gets triggered with the mirror. It's not just look at yourself alone though. We look for so many things.

We look for God in our own way. Some look for Ram, some for Allah, some for Jesus, some for Krishna, etc. Somewhere it's got that kind of a 'sufiana' flavour to it.

Abhishek has an accent in the film. How was the preparation process?
It was Abhishek's process. He worked on the body language and the American accent. Everybody worked on their individual accents. For Abhi, it came very naturally. In fact, he barely speaks through the film. He hardly has ten lines in the film. It's his voiceover which takes us through the film.

Aren't there more mosquitoes interested in our talk today?
I'm sure they are. They must've been snubbed by the pigeon which I have shown on the posters of Delhi 6 (laughs)

The same time zone of Rang De before release and Delhi 6 before release. Can you tell the difference?
During Rang De, I was blank. Now I am blanker (laughs). If Rang De was a political drama, Delhi 6 is a social drama. In terms of expectations, Rang De was a tough act to follow and sometime, your success becomes your biggest enemy.

Everywhere I go, people recognize me and talk about Rang De Basanti. Now we did some test screenings of Delhi 6 and I found out that this is the first time I've sketched romance. That's a major difference.

Isn't A.R. Rahman making your job tough by not being there in the crucial and a critical stage of the films release?
Rahman called me half an hour after he received the award at the BAFTA's and said, "I am feeling so guilty by not being there. Anything you feel irritated about the background score, just change that". He just returned last night from the U.S.

He landed in Chennai, was talking to his engineers and was so worried about the music of Delhi 6. In fact, the background score is much better than the songs in Delhi 6. Background is the film. What we tried for the background was that we didn't score for the shot.

We just sat and spent the whole month of December and not a single sound came out. Everybody was getting worried. Then Rahman won the Golden Globe, came back and he again sat and bits and bits happened.

At one point, I and Rahman were discussing to postpone the release date of Delhi 6. We still couldn't crack the background. So we decided to crack theme on the subject of the film. Not on some particular scene. Rahman went into a different world all together after that. He played all the instruments that were available to him and just went for it.

He came up with ten themes and at one point we were confused of what to use. He is a true magician. When we put the theme with the scenes it would start and end perfectly. Can you believe it?

Do you think you are losing your creativity by making one film every three years? I mean, if you made three films in three years, it could've been a much creative process.
I am happy to make one film in a lifetime. Filmmaking is neither a race nor a number game. Though one thing (film) is stretching too much (laughs).

I write, I direct, I produce. If I had sealed and bound scripts and good scripts, that will not quench my thirst! It has to be something cool which we can experiment with. Visually, the director is the writer.

Then I have to produce because the kind of films I want to make, it's impossible to find a producer. Rang De Basanti took three to four years to find a producer till we roped in Aamir and in turn Aamir roped in Rahman.